Colombia: Ethnocide and political violence on the rise – More than 60 percent of all indigenous peoples in Colombia are at risk of extinction

By Dan Kovalik28 March 2016 (Libya 360) – While Colombia, the U.S.’s staunchest ally in the Hemisphere, is held out as some beacon of democracy in Latin America, the facts on the ground tell a very different story. Of course, you will rarely hear those facts, or about Colombia at all, given the general laziness […]

Photo gallery: Aerial view of drought and fire impacts on California landscape

By Amy Graff29 March 2016 (Seattle PI) – About three and a half years ago, Thomas Heinser was on a plane landing at San Francisco International Airport, when he was admiring the beautiful color palettes of the salt ponds on the edge of the bay. The S.F.-based photographer had spent many years taking aerial images […]

Vietnam’s southern Mekong Delta faces worst drought in history – ‘Those who have rice in hands will make fat profits’

HANOI, Vietnam, 17 March 2016 (AP) – Vietnam’s southern Mekong Delta, the country’s main rice growing region, is experiencing the worst drought and saline intrusion in recent history that has affected more than half a million people, officials said Thursday. The drought could result in the loss of up to 1 million tons of rice, […]

Is India facing its worst-ever water crisis? ‘The unthinkable is happening’

By Soutik Biswas 27 March 2016 (BBC News) – On 11 March 2016, panic struck engineers at a giant power station on the banks of the Ganges river in West Bengal state. Readings showed that the water level in the canal connecting the river to the plant was going down rapidly. Water is used to […]

Most major California reservoirs below average levels at end of rainy season

28 March 2016 (Rabett Run) – Last week I was asked by my Rotary Club to give opening comments before a guest speaker from Lockheed Martin talked about new technology developments, so I decided to talk about water and technology. To set the stage, we’re having an unusually average water year in California. The story […]

WHO: An estimated 12.6 million deaths each year are attributable to unhealthy environments

GENEVA, 15 March 2016 (WHO) – An estimated 12.6 million people died as a result of living or working in an unhealthy environment in 2012 – nearly 1 in 4 of total global deaths, according to new estimates from WHO. Environmental risk factors, such as air, water and soil pollution, chemical exposures, climate change, and […]

Carbon emissions make up 60 percent of world’s ecological footprint

8 March 2016 (Global Footprint Network) – Global Footprint Network launches its 2016 edition of the National Footprint Accounts today, featuring a refined carbon Footprint calculation. The updated calculation has revealed that the global carbon Footprint is 16 percent higher than previously calculated, with a consequent 8 percent increase in the global Ecological Footprint. The […]

Ethiopian farmers need urgent assistance to feed country caught in major drought – Humanitarian needs triple during record El Niño

7 March 2016 (UN) – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today announced that timely agricultural assistance for the upcoming rainy season is essential to help the drought-affected people of Ethiopia, as one of the strongest El Niño events on record continues to have devastating effects on the lives and livelihoods of farmers […]

Drought-hit California county still relying on water tanks, despite rainfall

By Emmanuel Martinez 29 February 2016 (Reveal) – Reveal reported in early January about the water tank program in Tulare County, California. What began as an emergency response measure to the drought was becoming the norm for hundreds of families who no longer had running water. At the crisis’ peak, Tulare County reported about 1,400 […]

Syria drought likely its most severe in more than 900 years – ‘The eastern Mediterranean will be a hot spot of aridification due to rising greenhouse gases, and this change is already underway’

By Stacy Morford1 March 2016 (Earth Institute) – In the years before the Syrian conflict erupted, the region’s worst drought on record set in across the Levant, destroying crops and restricting water supplies in the already water-stressed region. A new study shows that that drought, from 1998-2012, wasn’t just the most severe in a century […]

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