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Archive for 2020

The Thirsty Dragon: Is the Mekong River The Next South China Sea?

Via Future Directions International, a report on Chinese intentions towards the Mekong River and mainland southeast Asia: Key Points The Mekong River is one of the most threatened rivers in the world, largely due to the rapid increase in the number of large operational hydropower dams. Most of those dams are located within China and could […]

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“Water Wars” are Turning into a Weapon of Mass Destruction

Via The New Eastern Outlook Journal, commentary on the risk that water wars will lead to increased conflict: “Water wars” caused by drought, crop failures, and a shortage of fresh water are as urgent nowadays for the public in many areas as the use of nuclear bombs, chemical weapons, and other weapons of mass destruction. […]

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Who Owns Groundwater In Water-Stressed Pakistan?

Via Third Pole, a look at two laws recently passed in Pakistan that could radically change how water is managed: Pakistan ranks fourth in the world in terms of annual groundwater abstraction – the amount of water taken from an underground source. This puts it in close competition with larger countries such as India, China and the United […]

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How To Solve The Global Water Crisis

Courtesy of Foreign Affairs, commentary on how the real water challenges Are Not technical, but political: Few people would argue with the idea that the world has a serious problem with water. For the past several years, water has consistently been named as a leading risk in the World Economic Forum’s annual survey of global leaders, and newspapers […]

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The Bitter Dispute Over Africa’s Largest Dam

Courtesy of The Economist, a look at Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan’s struggle to share water: For Biruk Negafh, as for millions of Ethiopians, the summer rains may bring the climax of a decade’s work. As a high-school student in 2011 he bought 100-birr bonds (then worth $6 each) to help finance the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance […]

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The Thirsty Dragon: What If Water Shortages Destabilize China?

Via The Economist, an imagined scenario from 2050 in which the painfully unequal distribution of water in China reawakens intra-regional resentments not seen in decades: The deadly heatwave that has gripped Asia for five months has had many unexpected consequences. One of the more surprising has been Chinese political and business leaders feuding, semi-publicly, about […]

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