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Dams in Africa: Balancing Food, Water and Energy Security
August 2nd, 2018
Courtesy of Future Directions International, a comprehensive report on dams in Africa: Key Points Electrification rates are low across Africa, with electricity demand much larger than supply. The continent holds enormous hydroelectric potential, less than ten per cent of which is exploited. Two countries in particular, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, have […]
Read more »Global Freshwater Availability Trends
July 6th, 2018
Via Future Directions International, commentary on a recent report on global freshwater availability trends: Key Points The NASA Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission tracked trends in global freshwater supplies from 2002 to 2016. An analysis of the satellite data identified 19 hotspots where there were dramatic increases in water stress. Some of […]
Read more »As Army Takes Over the Spigots, Thirsty Venezuelans Forced To Pay
June 27th, 2018
Via Bloomberg, a report on Venezuela where – as the system falls apart – water has become a luxury item: To arrive at the El Paraiso water-filling station in Caracas by sunrise, Rigoberto Sanchez wakes before 4 a.m. Hours later, his tanker is in a slow-moving line with a dozen others. Only two of the 10 pumps […]
Read more »Our Dismal Water Future, Mapped
June 13th, 2018
Via the Los Angeles Times, an article on the emerging sobering trends in global freshwater availability: Satellite data and images are provocative, even disturbing. They confront us with a global view that can be at once breathtaking, like a piece of art, and yet, in this era of rapidly changing climate, they paint a picture of […]
Read more »Middle East: Dry and Discontented
June 2nd, 2018
Courtesy of The Economist, a report on the impact of climate change and drought in the Middle East: SIX years ago Nabil Musa, a Kurdish environmentalist, returned from over a decade abroad to find Iraq transformed. Rivers in which he had swum year-round turned to dust in summer. Skies once crowded with storks and herons […]
Read more »Chile Claims That British Appetite For Avocados Is Draining Region Dry
May 17th, 2018
Via The Guardian, a look at Chilean villagers’ claims that the British appetite for avocados is draining region dry: British supermarkets are selling thousands of tonnes of avocados produced in a Chilean region where villagers claim vast amounts of water are being diverted, resulting in a drought. Major UK supermarkets including Tesco, Morrisons, Waitrose, Aldi and […]
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