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The Thirsty Dragon: Climate Change and Economic Growth Drive Water Scarcity On Tibetan Plateau
February 9th, 2018
Via the Woodrow Wilson Centre’s New Security Beat, an interesting look at the impact of climate change and cconomic growth on water scarcity on the Tibetan Plateau: I pulled my horse to a stop along the banks of a little stream, which was wedged between two grassy hills speckled with wildflowers and pika holes, to admire the […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: Source of Mekong, Yellow and Yangtze Rivers Drying Up
March 10th, 2017
Via China Dialogue, a look at how the source of Mekong, Yellow and Yangtze rivers is drying up: A seasonal dry-out in Sanjiangyuan region, the location of the headwaters of the Yellow River, the Yangtze, and the Lancang. In 2015, the Chinese government announced plans to set up a new nature reserve in the Sanjiangyuan (“three river […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: A History Of China’s Water Crisis – The Yellow River
August 27th, 2015
Via The Third Pole, an interesting historical look at China’s water problems: During the hot, dry month of August 1992 the farmers of Baishan village in Hebei province and Panyang village in Henan came to blows. Residents from each village hurled insults and explosives at the other across the Zhang River – the river that […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: China Reduces Wheat Irrigation As Farming Depletes Groundwater
September 16th, 2014
As reported by Bloomberg, China is adopting measures that place water security over grain production for the first time: China is reducing crop irrigation in regions with water shortages as the world’s biggest grain consumer seeks to ease pressure on declining aquifers. Hebei province, the nation’s third-biggest wheat grower, will cut wheat irrigation by 760,000 […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: China Plans Tibetan Conservation Zone To Protect Source Of Great rivers
November 19th, 2011
Via the Shanghai Daily, a report that China is planning to set up an ecological conservation zone on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, where the country’s major rivers originate. As the article notes: “…The planned national conservation zone covers a 395,000 square kilometer region known as Sanjiangyuan, which is the source of China’s three major rivers – […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: Bringing The Yellow River Back In The Flow
July 30th, 2011
Via China Dialogue, an interesting article on China’s efforts to regulate and restore China’s polluted, drought-ridden Yellow River which once struggled to reach the sea. As the report notes: “…On one wall of the control centre, a mosaic of TV screens flickers back and forth between the latest satellite photographs and rainfall projections. On another, a […]
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