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The Thirsty Dragon: China Heading Towards An Unavoidable Water Crisis
November 12th, 2012
Via OilPrice.com, a report on China’s thirst for water: China is a huge producer and consumer of commodities. Not only is it the largest global producer of key crops and meat, it has the largest appetite for goods that cover the gamut from rice to rubber, from cotton to copper. But one of its largest […]
Read more »The Nile…Under Threat
November 12th, 2012
Courtesy of The Los Angeles Times, an interesting look at how poor African capitals are increasingly challenging Cairo for the Nile’s water, without which Egypt’s economy would wither and die: Overwhelmed by cascading economic and political problems since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, this nation teeters from within even as it biggest threat may lie […]
Read more »Central Asia’s Looming Conflict Over Water: The Upriver Countries
November 12th, 2012
Via STRATFOR (subscription required), a detailed look at how two of Central Asia’s poorest countries, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, are attempting to leverage one of their few geographic advantages — control over the headwaters of two major regional rivers — to build new hydropower dams. The proposed dams, which were originally drawn up by the Soviet […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: Scarcity Of Water & Land Shifts Geography of Food Production & Irrigation Networks to China’s Northeast
November 11th, 2012
Courtesy of Circle Of Blue, a report on how rich land, ample water, and dogged persistence turned China’s virgin northeast into the nation’s breadbasket: Farmers harvest corn near Tongliao in Inner Mongolia. China, the world’s largest nation and second-largest economy, is pursuing grain production with a single-minded purpose. On the south side of the two-lane […]
Read more »Landmark U.S. Water Pact With Mexico Could Boost Lake Mead
November 11th, 2012
Via the Las Vegas Review Journal, a report on a recent agreement over Colorado River flows: After years of negotiations, the United States and Mexico have struck a deal that could keep more water in Lake Mead and help improve water efficiency and the environment south of the border. The landmark five-year agreement would allow […]
Read more »India, Bangladesh Near Historic Agreement On Teesta Water
November 11th, 2012
Via the Hindustan Times, a report that India and Bangladesh could soon break a politically significant logjam to sign an interim Teesta water-sharing pact following talks between water resources minister Harish Rawat and visiting Bangladesh agriculture minister Begum Matia Chowdhury. As the article notes: “…An earlier attempt to resolve a deadlock over how to share […]
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