BLOG
Uzbekistan & Tajikistan: Catalysts For A Central Asian Water Solution?
January 24th, 2018
Via Times of Central Asia, a report on water in Central Asia: The use and management of water has always been a complicated and very sensitive issue in Central Asia. An important power generation and irrigation resource, water can be both a source of conflict and an area for cooperation between countries of the region. […]
Read more »Warming, Water Crisis, Then Unrest: How Iran Fits an Alarming Pattern
January 24th, 2018
Courtesy of The New York Times, a report on Iran’s water tensions: Lake Urmia, in northwestern Iran, has diminished by nearly 90 percent since the early 1970s. Nigeria. Syria. Somalia. And now Iran. In each country, in different ways, a water crisis has triggered some combination of civil unrest, mass migration, insurgency or even full-scale […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon and Parched Tiger: Asia’s Dangerous Thirst
January 24th, 2018
Via the Nikkei Asian Review, commentary on how rapidly growing demand for water is stoking tensions in Asia: In recent weeks, one of the most pristine Himalayan rivers has mysteriously turned black when entering India from Tibet, highlighting how China’s upstream tunneling, damming and mining activities might be causing major environmental contamination. The plight of […]
Read more »Troubled Waters: Egypt and Ethiopia Wrangle Over Nile Dam
January 20th, 2018
Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal, a report on how Addis Ababa’s dam plans expose rivalry with Cairo for regional power: The world’s longest river, a lifeline for hundreds of millions of people, is also fast becoming a fault line. Ethiopia’s ambitious $4.2 billion hydroelectric dam project on the Nile River’s main tributary is raising tensions with […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: Resource-Hungry China Wages Water Wars By Stealth
January 17th, 2018
Via the South China Morning Post, interesting commentary on the need for international pressure to rein in Beijing’s dam-building frenzy and ensure it respects the environment and rights of downstream nations: China’s hyperactive dam building is a reminder that, while the international attention remains on its recidivist activities in the South China Sea’s disputed waters, […]
Read more »Water and Politics In Central Asia
January 12th, 2018
Via The McGill International Review, an article on water and politics in Central Asia: “Water resources could become a problem in the future that could escalate tensions not only in our region, but on every continent,” former Uzbek president Islam Karimov famously told reporters in 2012. “I won’t name specific countries, but all of this could deteriorate […]
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