24 March 2011 (Survival International) – Tribespeople in Sarawak, in the Malaysian part of Borneo, say the 30-year rule of Chief Minister Taib Mahmud has ‘raped’ their land, destroyed their rainforests and brought ‘hardship and suffering’. This Saturday, March 26, will mark Taib Mahmud’s 30th anniversary as head of the rainforest state. Malaysia’s longest-serving Chief […]
By SHAILA DEWAN6 January 2009 The coal ash pond that ruptured and sent a billion gallons of toxic sludge across 300 acres of East Tennessee in December 2008 was only one of more than 1,300 similar dumps across the United States — most of them unregulated and unmonitored — that contain billions more gallons of […]
At 197 million acres, the surface area of Canada’s boreal lakes and rivers alone are larger than all but 36 countries. According to a new report by the Pew Environment Group, Canada’s boreal forest contains the world’s largest and most pristine freshwater ecosystem on Earth. A Forest of Blue: Canada’s Boreal Forest, the World’s Waterkeeper […]
Baghdad (AFP) March 21, 2011 – Fifty percent of water resources are wasted in Iraq, where six million people have no access to clean water, the United Nations said on Monday, the eve of World Water Day. “Iraq faces difficulties in meeting the target of 91 percent of households using a safe drinking water supply […]
22 Mar 2011 (BusinessGreen) – Water scarcity could undermine the rapidly growing industrial sectors of China and India, while Europe remains far from immune to water shortage threats, according to new research published to support World Water Day. A quarter of the world’s largest companies are thought to be at risk from water shortages already, […]
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (UPI) Mar 16, 2011 – Ethiopia is pressing ahead with plans to build large dams on the Nile as upstream African states put pressure on a reluctant Egypt to share the waters of the world’s longest river more equitably. The Ethiopian Electric Power Corp. has awarded the Italian construction firm Salini Costruttori […]
Contact: Elyssa Rosen03/16/2011 Ottawa, Canada – A first of its kind report by the Pew Environment Group reveals that Canada’s boreal, the world’s largest intact forest and on-land carbon storehouse, contains more unfrozen freshwater than any other ecosystem. As United Nations’ International Year of Forests and World Water Day coincide, world leaders are grappling with […]
[UPDATE 4 October 2011: Sadly, World Catastrophe Map has closed down for good.] Occasionally, Desdemona runs across a site or a blog that’s uncannily dialed into the Des vibe. All dedicated Doomers know the Apocadocs and Wit’s End, but the World Catastrophe Map is a new and delectable find for Des. “Let the End Times […]
By Jennifer Hattam, Istanbul, Turkey 12 March 2011 Key reservoirs in Cyprus are drying up. In some parts of the Greek side of the divided island, 50 percent of the trees have died due to drought, damaging soil quality and agricultural productivity. Experts say the Mediterranean island could end up with as little water as […]
For years the Ogallala Aquifer, the world’s largest underground body of fresh water, has irrigated thousands of square miles of American farmland. Now it is running dry By Charles Laurence 07 Mar 2011 There is not much to be happy about these days in Happy, Texas. Main Street is shuttered but for the Happy National […]
