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Tonle Sap: On the Debt, Drought and Politics of Cambodia’s Most Important Lake
February 12th, 2022
Via Third Pole, an interview on Tonle Sap lake: Over the past three decades, Southeast Asia’s largest lake has declined precipitously. For centuries, the flooding of the Mekong would reverse the course of the river, causing Tonle Sap lake to swell up to six times its dry season size and creating what was once the […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: China’s Fake Snow Frenzy for Beijing Olympics Strains Water Supplies
February 1st, 2022
Via Bloomberg, an article on how China’s first Winter Olympics rely completely on artificial snow, further straining dry regions around Beijing: Weeks before the world’s best skiers and snowboarders descend on Zhangjiakou, a main site of the Beijing Winter Olympics, a dozen machines furiously churned out snow to cover the mountains they will race down. The slopes were soon […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: China Is Running Out of Water and That’s Scary for Asia
January 29th, 2022
Via Bloomberg, an opinion piece looking at how – of all Bejing’s problems (demographic decline, a stifling political climate, the stalling or reversal of economic reforms) dwindling natural resources may be the most urgent: Nature and geopolitics can interact in nasty ways. The historian Geoffrey Parker has argued that changing weather patterns drove war, revolution and upheaval during a long […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: In Parched Beijing, Claims of a ‘Green’ Olympics May Not Hold Water
January 21st, 2022
Courtesy of The Washington Post, an article on China’s claims of a green Olympics: Barren hillsides broken up by thin strips of white snow are a familiar sight for regular visitors to ski resorts near Beijing. The 2022 Winter Olympics host, which is under 150 miles from the rapidly expanding Gobi Desert, is famous for cold and […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: Water Politics Will Drive Kazakhstan’s Relations With China
January 14th, 2022
Via National Interest, commentary on the need for Kazakhstan and China to reach mutually beneficial agreements on water issues: The recent unrest in Kazakhstan quickly led to an intervention by the Collective Security Treaty Organization and triggered the appointment of a new prime minister. While events in Kazakhstan will continue to impact regional geopolitics, some issues will remain generally unaffected, […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: Are ‘Sponge Cities’ the Answer to Shenzhen’s Water Scarcity?
January 5th, 2022
Via The Diplomat, an article on Shenzhen, which is facing its worst drought on record: Like many other countries, China is facing a multitude of water and water-related challenges, including flooding and droughts, which are linked to climate change. In the past few decades, water-related concerns in China have increased in both intensity and frequency, impacting not only society, but […]
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