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Water Fight: How South Asia’s Unquenchable Thirst May Threaten The Region’s Peace
November 23rd, 2011
Courtesy of The Economist, an excellent article reviewing how a growing rivalry between India, Pakistan, and China over the region’s great rivers may threaten South Asia’s peace: SONAULLAH PHAPHO has spent half a century picking a living from Wular lake high in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Today he is lucky if he scoops a fish or two […]
Read more »Drier and Hotter: Egypt’s Climate Future
November 23rd, 2011
Via The Guardian, a look at Egypt’s climate future which seems to be characterized by rising temperatures, coastal erosion, storms and water scarcity: “…Just a few miles north of where I am now standing, the Mediterranean Sea is remorselessly battering the Egyptian coastline. Salt is leaching into the rich soils and invading the drinking water […]
Read more »Sudan – Battling The Twin Forces Of Civil War And Climate Change
November 23rd, 2011
Courtesy of The Guardian, a report on Sudan – where millions of hectares of semi-desert has turned into desert and a battle against water stress and a looming food security crisis looms: A thousand miles south of Cairo, Sudan is having another rotten year. To the east, Somalia, much of Ethiopia and the Horn of […]
Read more »Laos to Wait for ‘Positive Signals’ Before Building Mekong Dam
November 23rd, 2011
Via Bloomberg, a report that Laos will wait for “positive signals†from its neighbors before it builds the $3.7 billion Thai-financed Xayaburi hydropower plant on the Mekong River. As the article notes: “…Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia share the common position that any construction activity will take place only if positive signals are given by the […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: China Plans Tibetan Conservation Zone To Protect Source Of Great rivers
November 19th, 2011
Via the Shanghai Daily, a report that China is planning to set up an ecological conservation zone on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, where the country’s major rivers originate. As the article notes: “…The planned national conservation zone covers a 395,000 square kilometer region known as Sanjiangyuan, which is the source of China’s three major rivers – […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: Xinjiang To Build 59 Mountain Reservoirs In 10 Years
November 18th, 2011
Via Xinhua News, a report that Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region plans to build 59 reservoirs among its ice-capped mountains to harness the water run-off from melting glaciers in spring and summer. As the article notes: “…The reservoirs are to be built on three mountains, the Tianshan, Kunlun and Altay, with a goal of […]
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