Canberra, Australia (SPX) Sep 02, 2009 – New analysis shows that the water scarcity being experienced in southeast Australia started up to 15 years ago. While the results from the work by senior CSIRO researcher, Dr Albert van Dijk, may not surprise many people, it provides scientific evidence of the shift. New analysis shows that […]
Basra, Iraq (AFP) Sept 9, 2009 – Iraqis living alongside the ancient Shatt al-Arab waterway, the site local legend says of the Garden of Eden, face an environmental catastrophe because of massive dams built by neighbouring Iran. A vibrant fresh water lifeline teeming with fish has become a salty, polluted channel which is driving people […]
Crops are wilting in the countryside, and the capital’s water shortage has turned dire as Mexico grapples with its worst drought in more than half a century. By Ken Ellingwood, Reporting from Mexico City – In the parched Mexican countryside, the corn is wilting, the wheat stunted. And here in this vast and thirsty capital, […]
By Staff Writers, Ankara, Turkey (UPI) Turkey says it cannot give drought-stricken Iraq and Syria any more water from the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, claiming it’s short of water itself as it forges ahead with a mammoth dam-building program. The thirsty downstream states, witnessing their farmland turning into dustbowls and their people migrating to overcrowded […]
Climate change, border disputes and the opposition of residents to expansion threaten eastern Poland’s unique woodlands. By Gabriela Baczynska A contest between competing needs of conservation and economic growth is threatening the future of large parts of Europe’s last ancient forest. The 380,000-acre Bialowieza Primeval Forest, which straddles the border between Poland and Belarus, is […]
As one devastating drought follows another, the future is bleak for millions in east Africa. John Vidal reports from Moyale, Kenya By John Vidal We met Isaac and Abdi, Alima and Muslima last week in the bone-dry, stony land close to the Ethiopia-Kenya border. They were with five nomad families who have watched all their […]
by Deborah Amos | Listen to the Story [4 min 38 sec] Iraq has one of the largest oil reserves in the world, but it’s running out of another valuable commodity: water. Iraq’s ancient name, Mesopotamia, means the land between two rivers: the Tigris and the Euphrates, which flow into Iraq from Turkey and Syria. […]
A scarcity of fresh water has left the UAE relying on desalination to quench an unprecedented thirst brought on by the country’s expansion. But the effects of the policy are threatening to destroy natural supplies and create an ecological nightmare. By Jonathan Gornall “Water, water, everywhere,Nor any drop to drink.” Like the becalmed seamen of […]
By Staff Writers, New Delhi (AFP) Aug 29, 2009 India faces a “severe” drought but the country’s ample food grain stock will ensure no one goes hungry, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Saturday. Monsoon rains, the lifeline for farms that support more that half of India’s 1.1 billion population, have been scant and about […]
By Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent SANAA (Reuters) – Gentle showers temporarily damp the dust and cool the August heat of Sanaa, but cannot remedy a grim water outlook for the Yemeni capital’s 2 million people. Some residents receive piped city water only once every nine days and others get none at all. The sinking water […]
