BLOG
The Thirsty Dragon and Parched Tiger: Will China Turn Off Asia’s Tap?
December 26th, 2020
Via Brahma Chellaney, commentary on China’s water pressure on the rest of Asia: China’s megaproject on the Brahmaputra (Yarlung Tsangpo) is to come up next to Metog (Motuo), just before the mighty river crosses into India. Even after Asia’s economies climb out of the COVID-19 recession, China’s strategy of frenetically building dams and reservoirs on transnational rivers […]
Read more »Ethiopia’s Hydro-Hegemony
December 22nd, 2020
Via The National Interest, a report on how, while the dam dispute between Ethiopia and Egypt most often garners international press, the cases impacting Kenya and Somalia show that the pattern of Ethiopian defiance of international norms cuts deeper: After initial denials, Ethiopia began last summer to fill its Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. The Ethiopian project is […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon and Parched Tiger: Water – The New Flashpoint in the India-China Stand-Off
December 20th, 2020
Via Byline Times, commentary on China’s plans to build a new dam on the headwaters of the Tsangpo River: At a conference on 26 November Yan Zhiyong, chairman of the state-owned Power Construction Corp of China, announced plans to build a new hydropower dam on one of the largest river’s in the world, which flows […]
Read more »Water Scarcity: An Understated Global Security Risk
December 16th, 2020
Via Harvard Law School’s National Security Journal, commentary on global water scarcity: The Industrial Revolutions improved living standards for people in most nations where technology proliferated.[1] Populations in modern societies are not overly concerned with accessing food or water on a daily basis. In particular, the availability of clean, fresh water is a reasonable expectation throughout […]
Read more »US Launches Mekong Dam Monitor to Provide a More Holistic View of the River
December 16th, 2020
Via Future Directions International, a report on the launch of the Mekong Dam Monitor which is likely to place further pressure on Beijing to provide timely, accurate and robust hydrological data on water levels and dam operations on the Mekong River: After China promised to provide uninterrupted access to hydrological data on the Mekong River, […]
Read more »Laos Presses Ahead with 4 More Mekong Dams Amid Drought
December 12th, 2020
Via VoA, a report on Laos’ decision to press ahead with 4 more Mekong dams amid a drought: Laos is pushing ahead with four dams across the mainstream of the Mekong River, despite an escalating chorus of objections and crippling debt to Chinese state banks which resulted in the loss of control over its electricity grid […]
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