BLOG
The Big Melt
March 31st, 2010
Courtesy of National Geographic, a detailed look at the “Big Melt” in the Himalayas and the real challenge of preventing water conflicts from spilling across borders, whether that be related to the growing sense of alarm in Central Asia over the prospect that poor but glacier-heavy nations (Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan) may one day restrict the flow […]
Read more »Reduced Mekong Flow = Increased Regional Concerns
March 31st, 2010
Via The Asia Foundation, a report examining the impact that the Mekong River – the longest in Southeast Asia and at its lowest reported water level in 20 years – is having upon Laos. As the article notes: “…The river runs through six countries – China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam – but the […]
Read more »The Mighty Mekong No Longer?
March 13th, 2010
A pair of articles examining the increased tensions between Thailand and China over Mekong River water. As the first report notes, the Thai government has been quick to blame Chinese dams on the upper stretches of the river, but that may not be fair. “…The Bangkok Post ran this story on 22 February: Ever since […]
Read more »Indian-Pakistani Water Tensions
March 3rd, 2010
As we have discussed in this forum before, there are significant water-related tensions between Pakistan and India. At the heart of Pakistan’s crisis is the Indus River which, already so badly overused that its water rarely reaches its now dried-up delta, also faces an alarming loss of up to a third of its flow by […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: Hydropower Projects On Tibet’s Main Rivers
February 20th, 2010
Courtesy of The Tibetan Plateau, an updated report on hydropower projects on three of the major rivers that flow from Tibet: the Yangtze, the Salween and the Mekong. As the article notes: “…Tibetans proudly sing of their land as “the Land of Snows, the source of great rivers.” Indeed, Tibet is widely regarded as “Asia’s […]
Read more »Hydrologic Security and Syria’s Liquid Worries
February 17th, 2010
Courtesy of Circle of Blue, a report detailing how much of Syria’s economics, history, politics, diplomacy, and culture have often been defined in a large part by water. As the article notes, water is a key to peace and prosperity in the region and it may also be key to war and conflict among Syria […]
Read more »