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Water As A Hidden Weapon In Libya?
May 28th, 2011
Via The Guardian, an interesting article on the potential that Libya’s enormous aquatic reserves could become a new weapon of choice if government forces opt to starve coastal cities that heavily rely on free flowing freshwater. As the article notes: With only five percent of the country getting at least 100 millimetres of rainfall per […]
Read more »African Land Grabs May Lead To Water Conflicts
May 26th, 2011
Via New Scientist, a report on how African land “grabs” may lead to future water conflicts: IS THIS the face of future water conflicts? China, India and Saudi Arabia have lately leased vast tracts of land in sub-Saharan Africa at knockdown prices. Their primary aim is to grow food abroad using the water that African […]
Read more »Middle East Nations At ‘Extreme Risk’ of Water Shortages
May 19th, 2011
Via Arabian Business, a look at the water scarcity risk facing a number of Middle East nations: Gulf states the UAE, Oman and Kuwait have been named among the 10 nations with the “most extreme risk†of interruptions to water supply, risk-assessment consultants Maplecroft said. After Mauritania, which has the highest risk ranking of the […]
Read more »When The Arab World Dries Up
May 19th, 2011
Via China Dialogue, a detailed report on how water usage in north Africa and the Middle East is unsustainable and how shortages are likely to lead to further instability – unless governments take action to solve the impending crisis. As the article notes: “…Poverty, repression, decades of injustice and mass unemployment have all been cited […]
Read more »Mideast Drought: Present At The Uprising
April 5th, 2011
Courtesy of Terra Daily, a report on how drought and water shortages may have sparked some of the recent Middle Eastern uprising. As the article notes: “…Syrian President Bashar Assad is struggling to contain spreading unrest that threatens his regime by dangling the prospect of political reform but the crisis goes deeper than that. Damascus […]
Read more »Hydro-Diplomacy To Ease Water Pressure In Middle East
March 24th, 2011
Via Reuters, an article on the need for diplomacy to defuse water tension in the Middle East: “The United Nations should promote “hydro-diplomacy” to defuse any tensions over water in regions like the Middle East and North Africa where scarce supplies have the potential to spark future conflicts, experts said Sunday. They said the U.N. […]
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