IPS News Special - Troubled Waters
==================================
At the conclusion of World Water Week Friday in Stockholm, over 2,400 water experts from the public, private, scientific and NGO sectors said with a unanimous show of hands that water must be a central part of climate negotiations in Copenhagen.
During the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen (Dec. 7-18), world governments are expected to finalize a deal to stem global warming by limiting greenhouse gas emissions. The Copenhagen agreement will kick in once the current Kyoto Protocol expires at the end of 2012.
From drought to floods, from privatisations to citizen-led management, from toxic spills and devastation to sanitation and conservation, from water wars to water as a human right, IPS correspondents track the issues surrounding this precious liquid.
=========================================================================
DEVELOPMENT: Political Power Dictates Transboundary Waters
By Thalif Deen
STOCKHOLM (IPS) - A longstanding quote attributed, rightly or wrongly, to the legendary author and humourist Mark Twain has been reverberating in the conference rooms of the Swedish capital: "Whisky is for drinking, water is for fighting over." Since nearly half of the global available surface water is found in 263 international river basins, the countries sharing borders have one of two choices: either collaborate or go to war.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48160
*****
WATER-NAMIBIA: Running A Dry River
By Servaas van den Bosch
OMARURU, Namibia (IPS) - The Omaruru River basin is one of the first in Namibia to establish a basin management committee. Its members have a difficult balancing act to perform with a water resource that’s already being utilised to its maximum.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48187
*****
DEVELOPMENT: New Threats Aggravate Africa's Water Crisis
By Thalif Deen
STOCKHOLM (IPS) - The widespread water scarcity in the African continent, impacting on the lives of nearly 300 million people, may be aggravated further by several new threats, including climate change, transboundary disputes and the negative fallout from military conflicts.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48178
*****
DEVELOPMENT: Should Water Be Legislated as a Human Right?
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - The growing commercialisation of water - and the widespread influence of the bottling industry worldwide - is triggering a rising demand for the legal classification of one of the basic necessities of life as a human right.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48077
*****
INDIA: Rural Communities Turn to Traditional Climate Mitigation
By Keya Acharya
MADURAI, India (IPS) - In Tamilnadu, southern India, and Uttar Pradesh, northern India, villagers have revived ancient systems of storing surface and groundwater that are putting them in a good position to contend with today’s changing climate.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47975
*****
EGYPT: Differences 'Narrowing' Over Nile Waters
By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa Al-Omrani
CAIRO (IPS) - Signs are emerging of some narrowing of differences over the sharing of Nile waters. "When it comes to Nile-sharing, Egypt appears to be choosing the path of diplomacy and economic co-operation rather than conflict," Hani Raslan, head of the department for Sudan and Nile Basin countries at the semi- official Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies told IPS.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48167
*****
Q&A: "Safe Drinking Water for Astronauts, Not Slum Dwellers"
Thalif Deen interviews Anders Berntell, Executive Director of the Stockholm International Water Institute*
STOCKHOLM (IPS) - "We can provide astronauts with a safe supply of drinking water when they travel to the moon, but we cannot provide the same service to slum dwellers in Kibera, Nairobi or Dharavi, Mumbai," Anders Berntell, executive director of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), told a gathering of over 2,400 participants at the annual World Water Week concluding Friday.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48125
*****
ZIMBABWE: No Water, Just a Bill
By Ntandoyenkosi Ncube
HARARE (IPS) - City council turns off the water. National minister in charge says turn it back on. Domestic and commercial users alike dispute their unpaid bills. The shadow of a cholera epidemic looms over it all. Must be Harare.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48059
*****
ENVIRONMENT: Rich Nations Vulnerable to Water Disasters
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - The growing shortage of water - a perennial problem in the world's poorer nations - is expected to eventually reach the rich nations in the Western world.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47850
*****
SOUTH AFRICA: Rights to the River
By Mandisi Majavu
CAPE TOWN (IPS) - Millions of litres of water are being unlawfully diverted into dams set up by South Africa's major industries, big mining companies and commercial farmers - with potentially devastating consequences for management of the resource.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47855
******
SIGN UP TO RECEIVE THE NEW IPS GENDERWIRE:
Only about 22 percent of the voices you hear and read in the news are women's. You can change your perspective - Read the new IPS Gender Wire.
http://ipsnews.net/_newsletter/genderwire.asp
******
Read More IPS Coverage of Water from around the world: http://www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/water/index.asp
============================================================================
DON’T MISS IPS SPECIAL COVERAGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES FROM AROUND THE GLOBE. Through special coverage of issues like food security, extractive industries, biodiversity and climate change, IPS is giving a voice to people whose stories are seldom heard. IPS is also highlighting the various challenges they face in the globalised world: health and food insecurity, environment degradation and poverty.
http://www.ipsnews.net/environment.asp
============================================================================
Read IPS Special Coverage of Sanitation:
Despite improved sanitation worldwide last year, there are still about 2.6 billion people - or about 41 percent of the world population - lacking adequate toilet facilities.
http://www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/toilet/
============================================================================
Inter Press Service News Agency (IPS), the world's leading provider of information on global issues, is backed by a network of journalists in more than 150 countries. Its clients include more than 3,000 media organisations and tens of thousands of civil society groups, academics, and other users.
IPS focuses its news coverage on the events and global processes affecting the economic, social and political development of peoples and nations.
============================================================================
Visit Inter Press Service at http://www.ipsnews.net
====================================================================
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==================================
At the conclusion of World Water Week Friday in Stockholm, over 2,400 water experts from the public, private, scientific and NGO sectors said with a unanimous show of hands that water must be a central part of climate negotiations in Copenhagen.
During the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen (Dec. 7-18), world governments are expected to finalize a deal to stem global warming by limiting greenhouse gas emissions. The Copenhagen agreement will kick in once the current Kyoto Protocol expires at the end of 2012.
From drought to floods, from privatisations to citizen-led management, from toxic spills and devastation to sanitation and conservation, from water wars to water as a human right, IPS correspondents track the issues surrounding this precious liquid.
=========================================================================
DEVELOPMENT: Political Power Dictates Transboundary Waters
By Thalif Deen
STOCKHOLM (IPS) - A longstanding quote attributed, rightly or wrongly, to the legendary author and humourist Mark Twain has been reverberating in the conference rooms of the Swedish capital: "Whisky is for drinking, water is for fighting over." Since nearly half of the global available surface water is found in 263 international river basins, the countries sharing borders have one of two choices: either collaborate or go to war.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48160
*****
WATER-NAMIBIA: Running A Dry River
By Servaas van den Bosch
OMARURU, Namibia (IPS) - The Omaruru River basin is one of the first in Namibia to establish a basin management committee. Its members have a difficult balancing act to perform with a water resource that’s already being utilised to its maximum.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48187
*****
DEVELOPMENT: New Threats Aggravate Africa's Water Crisis
By Thalif Deen
STOCKHOLM (IPS) - The widespread water scarcity in the African continent, impacting on the lives of nearly 300 million people, may be aggravated further by several new threats, including climate change, transboundary disputes and the negative fallout from military conflicts.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48178
*****
DEVELOPMENT: Should Water Be Legislated as a Human Right?
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - The growing commercialisation of water - and the widespread influence of the bottling industry worldwide - is triggering a rising demand for the legal classification of one of the basic necessities of life as a human right.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48077
*****
INDIA: Rural Communities Turn to Traditional Climate Mitigation
By Keya Acharya
MADURAI, India (IPS) - In Tamilnadu, southern India, and Uttar Pradesh, northern India, villagers have revived ancient systems of storing surface and groundwater that are putting them in a good position to contend with today’s changing climate.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47975
*****
EGYPT: Differences 'Narrowing' Over Nile Waters
By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa Al-Omrani
CAIRO (IPS) - Signs are emerging of some narrowing of differences over the sharing of Nile waters. "When it comes to Nile-sharing, Egypt appears to be choosing the path of diplomacy and economic co-operation rather than conflict," Hani Raslan, head of the department for Sudan and Nile Basin countries at the semi- official Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies told IPS.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48167
*****
Q&A: "Safe Drinking Water for Astronauts, Not Slum Dwellers"
Thalif Deen interviews Anders Berntell, Executive Director of the Stockholm International Water Institute*
STOCKHOLM (IPS) - "We can provide astronauts with a safe supply of drinking water when they travel to the moon, but we cannot provide the same service to slum dwellers in Kibera, Nairobi or Dharavi, Mumbai," Anders Berntell, executive director of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), told a gathering of over 2,400 participants at the annual World Water Week concluding Friday.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48125
*****
ZIMBABWE: No Water, Just a Bill
By Ntandoyenkosi Ncube
HARARE (IPS) - City council turns off the water. National minister in charge says turn it back on. Domestic and commercial users alike dispute their unpaid bills. The shadow of a cholera epidemic looms over it all. Must be Harare.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48059
*****
ENVIRONMENT: Rich Nations Vulnerable to Water Disasters
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - The growing shortage of water - a perennial problem in the world's poorer nations - is expected to eventually reach the rich nations in the Western world.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47850
*****
SOUTH AFRICA: Rights to the River
By Mandisi Majavu
CAPE TOWN (IPS) - Millions of litres of water are being unlawfully diverted into dams set up by South Africa's major industries, big mining companies and commercial farmers - with potentially devastating consequences for management of the resource.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47855
******
SIGN UP TO RECEIVE THE NEW IPS GENDERWIRE:
Only about 22 percent of the voices you hear and read in the news are women's. You can change your perspective - Read the new IPS Gender Wire.
http://ipsnews.net/_newsletter/genderwire.asp
******
Read More IPS Coverage of Water from around the world: http://www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/water/index.asp
============================================================================
DON’T MISS IPS SPECIAL COVERAGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES FROM AROUND THE GLOBE. Through special coverage of issues like food security, extractive industries, biodiversity and climate change, IPS is giving a voice to people whose stories are seldom heard. IPS is also highlighting the various challenges they face in the globalised world: health and food insecurity, environment degradation and poverty.
http://www.ipsnews.net/environment.asp
============================================================================
Read IPS Special Coverage of Sanitation:
Despite improved sanitation worldwide last year, there are still about 2.6 billion people - or about 41 percent of the world population - lacking adequate toilet facilities.
http://www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/toilet/
============================================================================
Inter Press Service News Agency (IPS), the world's leading provider of information on global issues, is backed by a network of journalists in more than 150 countries. Its clients include more than 3,000 media organisations and tens of thousands of civil society groups, academics, and other users.
IPS focuses its news coverage on the events and global processes affecting the economic, social and political development of peoples and nations.
============================================================================
Visit Inter Press Service at http://www.ipsnews.net
====================================================================
Unsubscribe:
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