BLOG
Hydraulic Pressures: Reaching A Tipping Point?
November 2nd, 2010
Via Foreign Affairs, an interesting review of several books examining the emerging global water crisis: “…Although warnings that water crises, even water wars, are pending have a long history — and a long history of being overblown — there are increasing signs that the management of water resources worldwide is now reaching a tipping point. […]
Read more »Central Asian Water Politics…with Energy & Security Implications
November 2nd, 2010
Courtesy of STRATFOR (subscription required), a detailed look at the water politics of Central Asia, namely Tajikistan’s request for Russian support of a hydroelectric power plant that Uzbekistan opposes. As the article notes: “…sources in Central Asia reported Nov. 1 that Russia is in talks with Tajik authorities about having an open contract for Russia’s […]
Read more »Russia: “We must not buy Perrier…we must sell our water abroad.”
October 28th, 2010
Via Window on Eurasia, an interesting report that Russia is considering selling some of its water abroad. As the article notes: “…Moscow is making plans to exploit its position as a “fresh water superpower†and sell some of its holdings of this increasingly precious commodity to water-short neighbors and other countries further afield, according to […]
Read more »When The Water Ends: Africa’s Climate Conflicts
October 27th, 2010
Courtesy of Yale’s e360 blog, a report and video on how water scarcity and drought has led to increasing conflict between tribal groups in Ethiopia and Kenya as pastoral communities kill each other over water and grass. As the article notes: “…For thousands of years, nomadic herdsmen have roamed the harsh, semi-arid lowlands that stretch […]
Read more »Lake Balkhash: Becoming A Second Aral Sea?
October 27th, 2010
Courtesy of Window on Eurasia, an interesting report on the possibility that – as a Russian commentator recently stated – Lake Balkhash, the 12th largest lake in the world, is on the way to becoming “a second Aral Sea,†but one with potentially even more serious political consequences because both the causes of the lake’s […]
Read more »Geopolitics of Aquifer Management
October 16th, 2010
Courtesy of The Economist, a look at how new agreements may offer hope to better aquifer management among nation states. As the article notes: “…CLEMENT weather and plentiful water mean that Punjab produces an eighth of India’s total food grains. But the water table has dropped by ten metres since 1973 and the rate of […]
Read more »