by Rahul Goswami The first reports of drought-related suicides have begun filtering in from the district press. Farmers in the eastern coastal state of Andhra Pradesh are taking their own lives – the toll is said to be 20 farmers over the last 40 days. The state is one amongst many which has so far […]
Increased amounts of air pollution in China over last 50 years reduces days of rain by up to a quarter RICHLAND, Wash. – New research shows that air pollution in eastern China has reduced the amount of light rainfall over the past 50 years and decreased by 23 percent the number of days of light […]
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya’s government released $38 million on Friday to kick-start a plan to deliver food, water and medicine to rural northern communities afflicted by drought. Fifteen trucks set off for 11 districts in the north on Friday and 25 more begin the journey on Saturday. Operations are being conducted jointly with the U.N.’s […]
Baghdad (AFP) Aug 11, 2009 – Iraq’s water minister accused Turkey on Tuesday of breaking a promise to increase water flows down the Euphrates river, saying Ankara was actually holding back on the precious commodity. He was responding to remarks by Turkey’s visiting foreign minister that his country had fulfilled its promises and was considering […]
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Groundwater levels in northern India have fallen about 20 percent more than expected because of excessive pumping, threatening to spark a major food and water crisis, according to a study based on U.S. space agency data. The study, led by Matthew Rodell of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, said […]
Damascus, Syria, 7 August 2009 (UPI) – The drought that has kept Syria dry for three years has cost more than 800,000 people their livelihoods, Red Cross and Red Crescent officials said. The International Federal of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies this week said about $300,000 had been set aside for immediate assistance for […]
Dhaka (AFP) July 21, 2009 – A delay to Bangladesh’s monsoon season is posing a severe risk of drought in the impoverished nation and threatening food supplies, officials warned Tuesday. Monsoon rains normally sweep Bangladesh from June to September and the South Asian country gets more than 75 percent of its annual rainfall during this […]
By TANALEE SMITH, Associated Press Writer ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — Sam the koala, who gained worldwide fame and sympathy when she was rescued during Australia’s devastating wildfires this year, was euthanized Thursday after a veterinarian found the cysts that threatened her life were inoperable. The 4-year-old koala had developed the cysts associated with urogenital chlamydiosis, […]
YIXIAN, China, Aug 4 (AFP) Aug 04, 2009 The river has dried up, the well yields only dust, and Li Yunxi is hard pressed to irrigate his plot of land, even though he lives right next to the largest water project in history. The elderly farmer watches in despair as his corn crop wilts under […]
By Shaun McKinnon, The Arizona Republic Thirty years after Arizona tried to stop cities and towns from using up their groundwater, the state still can’t shake its thirst for one of its most finite resources. The steady drain on underground reserves grows out of two realities: Canals and pipelines don’t reach far enough to deliver […]
