BLOG
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. […]
Read more »Drought May Threaten Much Of Globe Within Decades
March 14th, 2011
Via UCAR, an interesting look at a new study from the National Center for Atmospheric Research which starkly lays out how droughts, some so extreme that they are nearly without precedent, may spread throughout many of the world’s most densely populated places by the end of the 21st century. Here’s where it could get devastatingly […]
Read more »Avoiding Water Wars: Water Scarcity and Strategic Power of Water In Central Asia
February 26th, 2011
The United States should play a key role in holding off looming water conflicts in Central Asia, according to a new report by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. While the U.S. stakes are highest in Afghanistan and Pakistan, neighboring countries like Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan will also become increasingly important, as water demand […]
Read more »Global Water Stress: Huge Areas of Australia, India, China and USA at Extreme Risk
February 20th, 2011
Courtesy of WaterEfficiency.net, a look at water stress worldwide: “…Huge areas of land mass within Australia, India, China and USA are highlighted as suffering extreme pressure on their renewable water supplies by a new index and map that evaluate water stress down to 50km² worldwide. The Water Stress Index is developed by global risks advisory […]
Read more »Middle East / North Africa: Water. Instability.
February 20th, 2011
Via The Guardian, a report on how the water usage in north Africa and the Middle East is unsustainable and shortages are likely to lead to further instability. As the article notes: “…Poverty, repression, decades of injustice and mass unemployment have all been cited as causes of the political convulsions in the Middle East and […]
Read more »