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Squeezing Communities Dry: Water Grabbing By The Global Food Industry
September 23rd, 2023
Via GRAIN, a look at how pension fund managers, private equity firms and other financial players are moving aggressively to snatch up lands around the world with access to water for irrigation. Their strategy is to pump as much water as they can and as fast as they can into the production of crops, like […]
Read more »World’s Highest Navigable Lake Is Drying Out
September 4th, 2023
Via CNN, a report on Lake Titicaca, parts of which have dried out due to falling water levels: Water levels at Lake Titicaca – the highest navigable lake in the world and South America’s largest – are dropping precipitously after an unprecedented winter heat wave. The shocking decline is affecting tourism, fishing and agriculture, which locals rely […]
Read more »This Machine Runs on Water: Lithium in Latin America
June 12th, 2023
Via Geopolitical Monitor, a look at the water usage and water pollution problem associated with South America’s lithium industry: Lithium is the next big mining boom given that the mineral can be utilized for lithium batteries which are currently, and for the foreseeable future, in high demand as the world craves green energy. South America […]
Read more »As Andean Glaciers Retreat, So Does Regional Security
September 12th, 2018
Via the Wilson Center’s New Security Beat, a look at the impact retreating glaciers is having upon water – and overall – security in South America: Last month, Bolivia filed a counterclaim against Chile in the International Court of Justice—the latest salvo in their battle over rights to the waters of the Silala River. The court will decide […]
Read more »Global Cities Facing Water Risks
June 15th, 2018
Via IWA’s The Source, an interesting look at some of the water challenges facing several of the world’s most at-risk cities: Water visions precede action. Yet it’s easy to offer “building blocks” to plan “sustainable urban water systems” that inform and govern “resilient and liveable cities.” What’s hard is showing how and where to implement […]
Read more »Peru: Thriving Agribusiness And Declining Aquifers
December 11th, 2015
Via The Desert Sun, a sobering report on Peru where thriving agribusiness and declining aquifers are leading to conflicts over water The fight began early one morning on a sandy dirt road between fields of lima beans, where farmers discovered an excavator machine digging a trench for a water pipe. Infuriated that the pipe would […]
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