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The Thirsty Dragon: China’s Upstream Advantage in the Great Himalayan Watershed
July 21st, 2013
Via the July 2013 issue of Asia Policy, a comprehensive look at water security in the Himalaya region.  As the journal examines, the scramble for control of natural resources to support economic and population growth, combined with the uncertain effects of climate change on the Tibetan Plateau, is raising tensions in Asia over Himalayan water […]
Read more »Water Issues In Kazakhstan
July 17th, 2013
Via the Silk Road Intelligencer, an interesting article on water in Kazakhstan: Kazakhstan is not the first country that comes to mind when discussing water politics. In Central Asia, this topic is more often associated with Uzbekistan, which uses more water annually than it has, and Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, which are both located upstream from […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: Does China Have Enough Water to Burn Coal?
July 8th, 2013
Via Scientific American, an interesting look at China’s thirst for power, specifically the disconnect between China’s rising demand for coal but the parched country’s growing challenges in finding enough water to cool its coal-fired power plants: By many measures, this northern Chinese city is an ideal candidate for being China’s Wyoming. It has more brown […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: The Story Of The Xiaonanhai Dam
July 2nd, 2013
Via China Dialogue, an article on China’s Xiaonanhai dam: Chongqing has been pushing the Xiaonanhai Dam onto the agenda since 2005. After Bo Xilai became Party Secretary, preparations for the dam intensified, leaving state authorities and even the Three Gorges Group on the back foot. Yet the dam will have an enormous impact on the […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: Rivers Threatened As China, Kazakhstan Water Pact Remains Elusive
July 2nd, 2013
Via Radio Free Asia, a report on increasing tensions over rivers in Central Asia: Industrial plants and other development projects in China’s northwest region of Xinjiang are hampering the flow of two key rivers into neighboring Kazakhstan and dumping hazardous chemicals into them as the two countries appear to be far from reaching agreement on […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: China’s Efforts To Overcome Its Water Shortages
June 14th, 2013
Courtesy of STRATFOR (subscription required), a report on China’s efforts to tackle its water crisis: On June 10, the easternmost leg of the South-North Water Transfer Project, the latest in a long line of attempts by China’s rulers to overcome the limits placed by water on the Chinese economy, began operations. This enormous engineering undertaking will […]
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