BLOG
The Thirsty Dragon: South-North Water Transfer ‘Not Sustainable’
February 26th, 2014
Via ChinaFile, an update on China’s South-North Water Transfer project which, one official said, would be rendered irrelevant if one-third of buildings in Beijing could collect more rainwater and recycle more wastewater: The bank of the Yangtze River in southwest China’s Chongqing municipality, dried up in a drought that in 2011 forced authorities to halt […]
Read more »Central Asia’s Troubled Waters: Resource Allocation Stokes Tensions
January 30th, 2014
Courtesy of STRATFOR (subscription required), a detailed look at tensions arising from Central Asia’s water stress: An undated file photo shows abandoned ships sitting on the sand, where the Aral Sea retreated, near the Kazakh city of Aralsk. Summary The decline of the Aral Sea over the past 50 years is one of the most […]
Read more »Disagreement Persists on Ethiopia’s Planned Dam
January 6th, 2014
Courtesy of STRATFOR (subscription required), a detailed look at the latest disagreement over Ethiopia’s planned Nile dam: The latest round of negotiations among Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt over Ethiopia’s planned Grand Renaissance Dam ended on Jan. 5 without the three sides reaching an agreement about how Egypt’s concerns would be addressed. Ethiopia is planning to […]
Read more »Does Himalayan Hydro Have The Power To Bring Water Co-operation?
December 11th, 2013
Via Future Directions International, an interesting look at how an alignment of interests is a necessary but not sufficient condition for meaningful co-operation between states over shared hydro resources. Other factors, including domestic cohesion, levels of trust and the effects of power asymmetry all contribute to the balance of conflict and co-operation. Such considerations will […]
Read more »Conflict On The Nile: The Future Of Transboundary Water Disputes Over The World’s Longest River
November 25th, 2013
Via Future Directions International, an interesting article examining the shifting geostrategic currents in the Nile Basin and evaluating the potential for water crises and interstate conflict as upstream nations develop and Egypt’s reliance on the river increases: Key Points The Nile River has had a major impact on the interstate politics of the region through […]
Read more »Egyptian Farmers Fear Water Supply Threat From Ethiopian Dam
November 12th, 2013
Via Seed Daily, an article on the continuing tensions arising from the planned Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia: With an economy already in tatters, Egypt’s farmers fear the building of an upstream Nile dam in Ethiopia could lead to water shortages and crop failures with catastrophic effects on their livelihood. “We don’t want this dam,” says […]
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