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The Thirsty Dragon: Shennongjia An Example of Unwise Development of China’s Water Resources?
September 19th, 2011
Via The Guardian, a report on how rapid and poorly regulated expansion in China’s Shennongjia region by small, hydroelectric power plants has choked rivers with dams, covered mountains in pipes and left locals without livelihoods. As the article notes: One of the hydroelectric power plants built within Shengnongjia natural reserve, Hubei province, China. Photograph: Jonathan […]
Read more »Water as a Weapon — Qaddafi’s Last Desperate Gamble
September 19th, 2011
Courtesy of Circle of Blue, Peter Gleick’s reflections on Libya where, with the regime crumbling, Qaddafi’s failing government apparently used water as a last, desperate weapon: “…There is a long history of conflicts over water. The first known water war was nearly 5,000 years ago: a conflict over irrigation ditches between the cities of Umma […]
Read more »The Hydro-Challenges of the New State of South Sudan in the Nile Basin
September 19th, 2011
Via The International Water Law Project, a detailed look at the hydropolitical issues that may arise in East Africa with the emergence of South Sudan: On January 9, 2011, and for the next six days, the people of South Sudan exercised their right of self determination and voted overwhelmingly to secede from the Sudan and […]
Read more »Water: Asia’s New Battleground
September 3rd, 2011
Two recent reviews of Water: Asia’s New Battleground, a book by Brahma Chellaney. First, via The Financial Times: “…In Water: Asia’s New Battleground, Chellaney points out that the rise of an Asian middle class, combined with urbanisation and global warming, is putting an enormous strain on Asia’s supply of water. Taken together, China and India […]
Read more »Can Water Treaties Be Climate-Proofed?
August 30th, 2011
Courtesy of The New York Times, an interesting article on the need to amend existing international water treaties to take into account changes being driven by climate change. As the report notes: The Indus River flows through a valley in northern Pakistan. Arguments over control of the Indus River system have been a source of […]
Read more »The Impending Food “Bubble”: The World Is Running Low On Water
August 14th, 2011
Via The Orange County Register, an article taking a new look at a 2005 World Bank study that reported that the grain supply for 175 million Indians and 130 million Chinese is produced by overpumping water. As the report notes: “…There are all kinds of bubbles. We had the financial bubble that burst in 2008, […]
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