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Mekong Under Threat
January 13th, 2010
Courtesy of The Asia Pacific Journal, an examination of the threats facing the Mekong River. As the article notes: “…Until the 1980s the Mekong River flowed freely for 4,900 kilometres from its 5,100-metre high source in Tibet to the coast of Vietnam, where it finally poured into the South China Sea. The Mekong is the world’s twelfth longest […]
Read more »The Great Himalayan Watershed: Water Shortages, Mega-Projects and Water Politics in China, India, and Southeast Asia
January 7th, 2010
Courtesy of Japan Focus, a detailed look at Himalayan water shortages and politics among China, India, and Southeast Asia. As the article notes: “…Since we tend to take water for granted, it is almost a bad sign when it is in the news; and lately there have been plenty of water-related stories from South, East, […]
Read more »Melting Ice On The Roof Of The World
December 8th, 2009
Via AFP, continued bad news from the roof of the world, namely the glaciers in the Himalayas that sweep through Pakistan, India, China, Nepal and Bhutan, and which provide headwaters for Asia’s nine largest rivers, lifelines for the 1.3 billion people who live downstream. As the article notes: “…Scientists predict that most glaciers will be […]
Read more »Chinese Dam(n) Interest In The Tibetan Plateau
November 9th, 2009
Via Tibetan Plateau, two posts detailing the status of Chinese hydropower projects on the eastern fringes of the Tibetan Plateau. As rivers on “mainland China” are dammed and diverted beyond recognition, Chinese dam builders and hydro-engineers are looking towards the Tibetan Plateau for more business. Owing to this trend, more and more dams are being […]
Read more »Melting Himalayan Ice Prompts Conflict Fear
October 20th, 2009
Courtesy of The Financial Times, a report on rising threat of conflict between India and Bangladesh – and possibly other parts of south Asia – as the availability of water in Himalayan-fed river systems that support 1.3bn people drops. As the article notes: On the outskirts of Kathmandu, capital of Nepal, climate researchers twiddle with […]
Read more »Water, Climate Change, and War Games
October 9th, 2009
Via Miller-McCune, a report that some nations’ war games are now including a climate change component. As the article notes: “The Tibetan Plateau is enormous — four times the size of Texas. Both the Yellow and Yangtze rivers issue from it, carrying the glacial runoff from the Himalayas to China. This runoff is a primary […]
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