By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS | 23 March 2024 (IDN) — The volatile politics of the Middle East have long been dominated by the fluctuating fortunes of a single treasured commodity: Oil. “Whenever we dig for water in our parched deserts”, a diplomat from the Middle East once confessed, “we end up striking oil”. But […]
Humming a New Tune on World Toilet Day
By Professor Lyla Mehta and Dr Alan Nicol* BRIGHTON/LONDON, UK | 18 November 2023 (IDN) — A hummingbird is the symbol of 2023’s World Toilet Day. (19 November). Fabled as a small actor in a huge drama—putting out a fire with tiny droplets of water—the analogy appears to be that every one of us doing […]
Devastating Destruction in Ghana After Akosombo Dam Overflows
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | ACCRA | 16 October 2023 (IDN) — Widespread spillage from Ghana’s Akosombo Dam on the Volta River has forced over 4,000 people to abandon their homes due to flooding. The Volta River Authority (VRA) initiated controlled spillage of the Akosombo and Kpong Dams on 15 September […]
Water is life. Nourishing Humanity from the Ancient Past to the Future
A Feature by The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) BERLIN | ROME | 15 October 2023 (FAO) — Water is finite but an infinitely valuable natural resource. Without it, there would be no food and no life. Centuries ago, the inventive nature of humankind spurred farmers to discover ways to irrigate crops, […]
The Caribbean: Climate Change Triggers Water Crisis, Financing Exacerbates
By Linda Hutchinson-Jafar PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, 29 June 2023 (IDN) — With an estimated 4 billion people facing water scarcity around the world, a regional water conference held earlier this month addressed the unique issues small island nations of the Caribbean face in confronting this challenge. These include climate change, which is having a […]
Avoiding Transboundary Waters Conflicts: A Tale of Two Treaties
Viewpoint by Robert Sandford Robert Sandford is a Global Water Futures Fellow at the UN University’s Canadian-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), which is supported by the Government of Canada and hosted at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. The Institute marks its 25th anniversary in 2021. HAMILTON, Canada (IDN) — The outdated treaties, compacts, […]
What Water Means to Human Life and Biological Resources
Viewpoint by John Scales Avery* COPENHAGEN (IDN) — I have attempted to explain the vital relationship between water and life in my new freely downloadable book, which can be circulated, from the link: http://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Water-by-John-Scales-Avery.pdf Also, on its home page for World Water Day, commemorated on March 22 this year, the United Nations explains what water […]
‘Water for All by 2030’ Remains Little More than a Pious Wish
By Reinhard Jacobsen VIENNA (IDN) – More than 2 billion people live without safe water at home. One in four primary schools have no drinking water service, with pupils using unprotected sources or going thirsty. More than 700 children under five years of age die every day from diarrhea linked to unsafe water and poor […]
Technology Comes to Rescue as Freshwater Becomes Scarcer
By Anna Kucirkova UNIVERSAL CITY, Texas (IDN-INPS) – Fresh water is the most important resource for human life on earth. People can survive far longer without food than without water, and virtually all of our food sources require fresh water to grow or create. Global climate change and the exponential increase in population has led […]
UN Intensifies the Quest for Universal Access to Safe Water
By J Nastranis NEW YORK (IDN) – World Water Day turned 25 on March 22. On that day, as UN-Water noted, 1.8 billion people were using a source of drinking water contaminated with faeces, putting them at risk of contracting cholera, dysentery, typhoid and polio. And, as Global Citizen pointed out, girls and women around […]