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The Thirsty Dragon: Re-Nu’ed Momentum For Dams
May 26th, 2011
Via China Dialogue, an updated look at how once-defeated plans to build a cascade of dams on China’s Nu River are regaining momentum: The Nu River valley in Yunnan province – known as China’s Grand Canyon – sits at the epicentre of China’s seismic zone. This dramatic landscape is also wracked by torrential rains that […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: The Push To Dam China’s Rivers
May 19th, 2011
Courtesy of Columbia University’s State of the Planet blog, an interesting look at China’s campaign to vastly expand its hydroelectric power (HEP) capacity, a technology that depends completely on the availability of abundant water, in the face of widespread drought. As the article notes: The Three Gorges Dam from the air. Photo credit: Euclid vanderKroew […]
Read more »Middle East Nations At ‘Extreme Risk’ of Water Shortages
May 19th, 2011
Via Arabian Business, a look at the water scarcity risk facing a number of Middle East nations: Gulf states the UAE, Oman and Kuwait have been named among the 10 nations with the “most extreme risk†of interruptions to water supply, risk-assessment consultants Maplecroft said. After Mauritania, which has the highest risk ranking of the […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: Central China’s Reservoirs Become Dead Water
May 19th, 2011
Courtesy of The New York Times, an article detailing the crisis unfolding in drought ravaged China: “…A severe drought along the Yangtze River region in central China has rendered nearly 1,400 reservoirs in Hubei Province temporarily unusable, devastated farm fields and made drinking water scarce, according to a report on Monday by Xinhua, the state […]
Read more »When The Arab World Dries Up
May 19th, 2011
Via China Dialogue, a detailed report on how water usage in north Africa and the Middle East is unsustainable and how shortages are likely to lead to further instability – unless governments take action to solve the impending crisis. As the article notes: “…Poverty, repression, decades of injustice and mass unemployment have all been cited […]
Read more »Working Towards Afghanistan’s Water Security
May 19th, 2011
Courtesy of Columbia University’s State of the Planet, an interesting commentary on Afghanistan’s water challenges: Darunta Dam, Nangarhar Province, Eastern Afghanistan. U.S. Army 10th Aviation Brigade image When news that Navy Seals had killed Osama bin Laden reached U.S. television and Internet audiences last week, thousands converged upon Ground Zero in New York City and […]
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