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The Thirsty Dragon: Will Central Asia Water Wars Derail China’s Silk Road?
March 29th, 2017
Courtesy of The Diplomat, a look at China’s need to be wary of a looming water crisis in Central Asia: It wasn’t until the second century BC that ancient China arguably discovered the true potential of Central Asia’s geostrategic golden ticket. As the then-reigning Han Dynasty set out to formally establish a network of trade routes […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon and Parched Tiger: Tibet’s Waters for Xinjiang – Another Diversion of the Brahmaputra?
March 22nd, 2017
Via Claude Arpi, commentary on another potential plan for diverting the headwaters of the Yalung Tsangpo river: I often mentioned on this blog, the different ‘diversion’ schemes, whether of the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) or the Indus River. Now, a new one has come to light. According to an official Chinese website, during the ‘Two Sessions’, […]
Read more »Asia’s Water Politics Near the Boiling Point
March 21st, 2017
Via Inter Press, commentary on Asia’s escalating water challenge: In Asia, it likely will not be straightforward water wars. Prolonged water scarcity might lead to security situations that are more nuanced, giving rise to a complex set of cascading but unpredictable consequences, with communities and nations reacting in ways that we have not seen in […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: China’s Water Stress Is on the Rise
March 15th, 2017
Via World Resources Institute, a look at China’s water stress: Water stress levels in many parts of China are very high, due to low levels of water supply and very high levels of demand. And new research shows the situation is worsening. Using the baseline water stress metric developed for WRI’s Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas, […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: China Proposes Water Pipeline From Russia To Gansu Province
March 15th, 2017
Via Future Directions International, a look at China’s proposed a pipeline to pump water from Russia’s Lake Baikal in Siberia to the Gansu province: Chinese urban planners have proposed constructing a pipeline to pump water from Russia’s Lake Baikal in Siberia to the Gansu province, its drought-prone north-west region. The proposed pipeline is 1,000 kilometres long, […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: Source of Mekong, Yellow and Yangtze Rivers Drying Up
March 10th, 2017
Via China Dialogue, a look at how the source of Mekong, Yellow and Yangtze rivers is drying up: A seasonal dry-out in Sanjiangyuan region, the location of the headwaters of the Yellow River, the Yangtze, and the Lancang. In 2015, the Chinese government announced plans to set up a new nature reserve in the Sanjiangyuan (“three river […]
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