South Asia’s hydrological moment with China
November 10, 2014
Written by Uttam Kumar Sinha. The countries of South Asia face, with alarming regularity, the twin blights of drought and floods. The management of hydro resources is a critical challenge for South Asia, one that requires a different political outlook and a focus on water. This change of aspect clearly brings into attention the Himalayan and …
Typhoon Yolanda: One Year Later
November 7, 2014
By Pauline Eadie Nearly a year ago, on 8 November 2013 super-typhoon Yolanda hit the Visayan region of the Philippines. Winds reached up to 200 mph with a ‘storm surge’ of over 17 feet. The storm surge was actually the height of a tsunami and the damage was catastrophic. The latest available official figures show that 6,293 individuals …
The many forms of water security in China
Written by Darrin Magee. By some measures, China is not a water-scarce country. Per capita water resources stood at just over 2,000 cubic meters in 2013 according to the National Bureau of Statistics, with overall water availability at nearly 2.8 trillion cubic meters. Yet these figures tell only part of the story. China’s seemingly sufficient water …
China’s transboundary waters
November 4, 2014
Written by Patricia Wouters. China shares more than 50 major international watercourses with its (mostly) downstream riparian neighbours — North Korea, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos, Nepal, Pakistan (Kashmir), Afghanistan, India and Vietnam. Less than 1% of Chinese water comes from outside its borders, but it contributes significantly to river basins flowing from …
Running Dry: Water, Agriculture and Climate Change in China
November 3, 2014
Written by Christine E. Boyle. Conflicting reports on the state of China’s agricultural water use situation range from statements that China’s water shortages threaten the future food security of the nation, to optimistic reports that China’s potential gains for water use efficiency spell out great opportunity for reaching more sustainable water-use rates, and stabilizing grain …
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