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Chinese Hydroelectric Investments In Central Asia
September 8th, 2020
Via Eurasianet, a look at China’s hydroelectric investments in Central Asia: Any investor wishing to stay friendly with all five Central Asian republics knows to steer clear of major hydropower projects. When the five countries were part of the Soviet Union, interdependence worked: Moscow built some of the world’s tallest dams in upstream Kyrgyzstan and […]
Read more »Is The Mekong Doomed?
September 6th, 2020
Via The Diplomat, a sobering report on the Mekong River: The miracle of the Mekong, where the pulsating force of the monsoon-driven river every year pushes its tributary to back up and reverse its flow into the great Tonle Sap lake in Cambodia, has again been disrupted and obstructed by dams, drought, and climate change. […]
Read more »‘Weaponizing Water’ in Northeast Syria
September 5th, 2020
Via Crux, commentary on warningss that Turkey is ‘weaponizing water’ in northeast Syria: Parts of Syria’s north where Kurds, Christians and Yazidis have practiced religious freedom in recent years are reportedly again under attack by mainly Turkish military and their allied Syrian Islamist fighters. The Syrian Democratic Council, which oversees the autonomous northeast of Syria, […]
Read more »US Official Attacks China’s ‘Manipulation’ of the Mekong
September 5th, 2020
Via The Diplomat, an article on how Southeast Asia’s mighty river is quickly becoming a new front in US-China competition: A senior American diplomat has criticized China’s string of hydropower dams on the Mekong River, becoming the latest U.S. official to raise alarm about their possible effects on countries downstream. David R. Stilwell, assistant secretary of […]
Read more »Struggling With Drought on the Mekong
September 3rd, 2020
Via The Diplomat, an article on how climate change and dams combine to push the Mekong’s water levels to record lows: Drought, climate change, and the construction of dams – on a scale that beggars belief – are threatening a river system that traverses five countries and feeds 70 million people who live hand to […]
Read more »How to Solve Water-Related Conflicts
September 2nd, 2020
Via the World Resources Institute, an article on water related conflict and political instability: Water-related conflict and political instability are on the rise across the globe. The factors that drive such conflict and instability seem to be intensifying, including: population growth, economic expansion, severe and prolonged drought, climate change, pollution, the destruction of natural landscapes, upstream infrastructure development (such […]
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