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The Growing Threat of Water Wars
November 14th, 2019
Via Project Syndicate, commentary on the growing tensions around water supply and scarcity worldwide: The dangers of environmental pollution receive a lot of attention nowadays, particularly in the developing world, and with good reason. Air quality indices are dismal and worsening in many places, with India, in particular, facing an acute public-health emergency. But as serious as […]
Read more »Blue Peace Index
October 19th, 2019
Via China Water Risk, a look at The Economist Intelligence Unit’s new Blue Peace Index (BPI) and how it promotes transboundary water cooperation: Freshwater resources are dwindling fast ; by 2050, >50% of the world’s population will live in water scarce regions, plus 45% GDP, 52% population & 40% of grain production of the world […]
Read more »Global River Flows Declining
October 3rd, 2019
Via Bloomberg, a report on how groundwater pumping in some of the world’s critical watersheds is exceeding safe levels and causing surface waters to fall at an alarming rate: Another slow-motion, man-made environmental disaster has been discovered, and it’s underneath your feet. About 70% of the water pumped out of underground aquifers worldwide is used […]
Read more »Beyond Seasonable Drought: Precipitation Paucity Pushes Panama Towards A Precipice
September 28th, 2019
Via The Economist, a look at how climate change threatens the Panama Canal: Take in the view from atop Gatun dam and fathom what is missing. Container ships float idly on Lake Gatun, near the midpoint of the Panama Canal, awaiting passage to the Caribbean sea, their gateway to the Atlantic Ocean. What look like […]
Read more »Water Wars Are Here
September 19th, 2019
Via New Republic, an article on how – in a warming world – fights over water usage have become ideological battles: Everyone remembers the scene in Chinatown when Jack Nicholson almost gets his nose sliced off, but many do not recall what the dispute was about. It wasn’t drug smuggling or gun running that got Nicholson’s character slashed. […]
Read more »Middle Eastern Water Stress Could Cause Widespread Regional Instability in the Years to Come
August 28th, 2019
Via Future Directions International, a report on Middle Eastern water stress: The World Resources Institute recently identified 18 countries that are likely to suffer from extreme levels of water stress (due to their propensity to use more of their water resources than can be naturally replenished). Of those 18 countries, 11 are located in the Middle East. […]
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