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Syria: Example Of Climate Change’s Impact
September 5th, 2013
Via Legal Planet, an interesting article on an assessment of environmental factors — in particular, a devastating drought — as the proximate cause of the Syrian civil war: [USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Commodity Intelligence Report, May 9, 2008] In considering the complex and painful question of whether to intervene in Syria, policymakers should take a close […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: China To Supply Water To Taiwan’s Outlying Islands
September 4th, 2013
Via Focus Taiwan, a report on Chinese/Taiwanese water diplomacy: Taiwan and China have agreed to provide fresh water from the southeastern Chinese city of Jinjiang to the Taiwan-held outlying county of Kinmen, to solve a looming water shortage that is expected to hurt the county’s economic lifeline. The set of islands that make up Kinmen […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: Every Year, Beijing Uses 400 Billion More Gallons of Water Than It’s Got
September 1st, 2013
Via Motherboard, a report on China’s water stress: The words “impending water shortage,†bring to mind arid places in the Middle East or Las Vegas. But in Beijing, the per capita annual water availability is well below the United Nations’ absolute water scarcity threshold, at just a tenth of the world average. China’s capital city […]
Read more »Water Politics On The Nile
August 31st, 2013
Via the Orange County Register, commentary on the Nile water rift: Egypt’s sense of nationhood is tied up in control of the Nile. So is energy self sufficiency for Ethiopia. The clash between these two realities can have deadly consequences. America will be tempted to intervene – on the wrong side. The issue is a […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: Red To Grey
August 30th, 2013
Courtesy of The Economist, a report on China’s environmental and water challenges ahead: ALL industrial nations one day hit an environmental turning-point, an event that dramatises to the population the ecological consequences of growth. In America that event occurred in 1969 when the Cuyahoga river in Ohio, thick with pollutants and bereft of fish, caught […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: Beijing Water Shortage Worse Than The Middle East
August 29th, 2013
Via ChinaFile, a report on China’s water stress: Much of Beijing’s water comes from the Miyun reservoir, an hour-and-a-half drive north of the capital. Visibly drying up, the reservoir’s pale banks are exposed to the the sky; islands formerly submerged have sprouted trees. Beijing’s annual water consumption has reached 3.6 billion cubic meters, according to […]
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