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Global Water Crisis: Too Little, Too Much, Too Few Plans
December 4th, 2012
Via The Christian Science Monitor, an article on the global water crisis: For most of history, thirsty humans made do with what moisture fell from above: The sun warmed the salty seas, pure water evaporated into the air and then cooled and fell to the earth as precipitation. There it clung to glaciers, froze and […]
Read more »Water Supply Could be Halved In Africa And Middle East
December 1st, 2012
Via Prensa Latina, summary of a recent worrying UN report on water supplies: Water supply in the countries of Africa and the Middle East could be halved by 2050 due to the population increase, according to a report released at the 18th Conference of the Parties (COP18) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate […]
Read more »No Wars for Water: Why Climate Change Has Not Led to Conflict…Yet
November 26th, 2012
Via Foreign Affairs (subscription required), a look at why climate change has not yet led to conflict: The world economic downturn and upheaval in the Arab world might grab headlines, but another big problem looms: environmental change. Along with extreme weather patterns, rising sea levels, and other natural hazards, global warming disrupts freshwater resource availability […]
Read more »Irrigation (Irritation?) In Central Asia
November 23rd, 2012
Courtesy of STRATFOR (subscription required), an interesting graphic on irrigation in Central Asia which contributes to part of the growing issue of water competition in Central Asia: Even before Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan began their recent push to build hydroelectric dams along Central Asia’s two main rivers, downriver countries were coping with water scarcity challenges caused […]
Read more »A Global Treaty on Rivers: Key to True Water Security
November 21st, 2012
Via Yale’s Environment360, a report on the possibility that two separate global river treaties are close to being approved: Is peace about to break out on the world’s rivers? It is amazing that until now there has been no global agreement on sharing international rivers. From the Mekong to the Jordan and the Niger to […]
Read more »In Southeast Asia, Big Dams Raise Big Concerns
November 11th, 2012
Courtesy of the Council On Foreign Relations, an interesting article on dam tensions in Asia: A view from upstream of Malaysia’s Bakun dam, in the inland of the eastern state of Sarawak on Borneo island, December 11, 2003. These past few weeks have not been good ones for large dam projects in Southeast Asia. […]
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