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When The Water Ends: Africa’s Climate Conflicts
October 27th, 2010
Courtesy of Yale’s e360 blog, a report and video on how water scarcity and drought has led to increasing conflict between tribal groups in Ethiopia and Kenya as pastoral communities kill each other over water and grass. As the article notes: “…For thousands of years, nomadic herdsmen have roamed the harsh, semi-arid lowlands that stretch […]
Read more »Geopolitics of Aquifer Management
October 16th, 2010
Courtesy of The Economist, a look at how new agreements may offer hope to better aquifer management among nation states. As the article notes: “…CLEMENT weather and plentiful water mean that Punjab produces an eighth of India’s total food grains. But the water table has dropped by ten metres since 1973 and the rate of […]
Read more »The New Oil: A Race To Buy The World’s Water?
October 16th, 2010
Via Newsweek, a report on the race to “buy up the world’s water”. While the author may not agree fully with all their points, the article does bring home the issue of privatization and the likelihood that private ventures/initiatives will likely give rise to increased water tensions & politics in the years ahead. As the […]
Read more »Water In America’s Southwest: A Glass (Lake?) Half Full
September 29th, 2010
Courtesy of The New York Times, two interesting articles on the political, hydrological, and environmental challenges facing an increasingly dry American Southwest. As the first notes, the distribution of the Colorado River’s dwindling bounty is likely to be reordered as early as next year because the flow of water cannot keep pace with the region’s […]
Read more »Water Tension in American Southeast
September 20th, 2010
Courtesy of The Economist, an update on the water tensions in the southeastern U.S. As the article notes: “…FOR Americans from the parched western states, the notion of Alabama, Georgia and Florida battling over water must seem as daft as three fat people fighting for a grape at a lavish banquet. Average yearly rainfall in […]
Read more »Hydraulic Harmony or Water Whimsy? Guarani Aquifer Countries Sign Agreement
August 17th, 2010
Courtesy of The International Water Law Project, an update on the Guarani Aquifer Agreement recently signed by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay and whether it will help usher in a new era of global hydro-cooperation. As the article notes: “…Now it’s the countries overlying the Guarani Aquifer. On August 2, 2010, the four nations overlaying […]
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