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21 Jul 2021 Washington DC, United States

US Drought Brings Wildfires, Water Shortages, Crop Failure

As the west of the US swelters and burns under sustained drought conditions, there are wider implications for national security and global food prices. Water levels in the Colorado River system are dangerously low and states are bickering over access to irrigation waters.

6 Mar 2021 BRUSSELS, Belgium

New EU strategy seeks to “ensure availability and sustainability of freshwater”

Water features highly in a new EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change aimed at shifting the focus from examining the problem to implementing solutions.Identifying the availability and sustainability of freshwater as “fundamental for climate resilience”, the Commission is seeking to prioritise transformational changes in all sectors through enhanced engagement of the Common Implementation Strategy (CIS) of the Water Framework and Floods Directives and is pushing hard for nature-based solutions and cross-border cooperation...

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17 Dec 2020 WASHINGTON DC, United States

US-funded "Mekong Dam Monitor" Launches

A new, United States-funded real-time data platform using remote sensing is designed to bring transparency to dam operations in China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia. While the platform will aid understanding of the effects of upstream dams, it may also exacerbate US-China rivalry in the basin...

3 Nov 2020 VIENTIENE, Laos

China Will Provide Year-round Water Data To Mekong River Commission

China has agreed to provide year-round water data to the Mekong River Commission (MRC), to improve river monitoring, and flood and drought forecasting in downstream Mekong basin countries.Over the last 18 years, China has shared water and rainfall data from June to October (in the flood season) from two hydrological stations located on the Upper Mekong mainstream...

1 Oct 2020 THE HAGUE, Netherlands

Human Rights And Water Security In Our Uncertain Times

The latest in a series of guest columns written for OOSKAnews and The Water Diplomat by participants in different parts of the international water community. In this article, Tobias Schmitz discusses human rights, water security and climate change in advance of a 13 October UNDP-SIWI Water Governance Facility high-level webinar on the subject...

15 Sep 2020 WASHINGTON DC, United States

US Official Accuses China Of Manipulating Mekong River Flow, Harming Tens Of Millions

A senior United States official has said that Chinese control of dams along the upper Mekong River has “harmed the livelihood of tens of millions of people in Southeast Asian communities up and down the Mekong region basin,” and encouraged the downstream countries to hold China accountable.The comments from David Stilwell, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific were made in an online news conference 15 September the week after the annual meeting of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)...

10 Sep 2020 GENEVA, Switzerland

Catastrophic Decline In Freshwater Biodiversity Requires Urgent Global Action

Humanity’s destruction of nature is having catastrophic impacts on wildlife populations, human health and all aspects of our lives, reveals WWF’s Living Planet Report 2020. This loss of biodiversity is not only an environmental issue but a development, economic, global security, ethical and moral one too...

24 Aug 2020 Bangkok, Thailand

China PM Pledges Improved Mekong River Water Data Sharing

The Prime Minister of China has said that his country is willing to share more Mekong River water data with fellow members of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) organisation which consists of China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam."China is willing to offer more assistance within its capacity to other Lancang-Mekong countries for better utilizing water resources," Prime Minister Li Keqiang said in a 24 August video conference with leadership from the other organization members, Chinese state media reported...

15 Apr 2020 WASHINGTON DC, United States

Did China Mekong Water Hoarding Exacerbate 2019 Drought?

Actions by China have been described as compounding a 2019 Mekong River drought that had severe impacts on livelihoods in downstream nations. China is accused in an April 2020 US government-funded study of restricting water flow from 11 upstream dams, affecting approximately 60 million people live in the Lower Mekong where agriculture and fishing are the principal sources of support...

7 Apr 2020 LINCOLN NE, United States

Newly Accessible Satellite Maps Track Global Drought

Global maps of dry/wet conditions developed by NASA researchers have been made avavilable, and are now accessible online through the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.“The global products are important because there are so few worldwide drought maps out there,” said hydrologist and project lead Matt Rodell of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland...

11 Nov 2019 EDINBURGH, Scotland

TUNE IN TODAY For "AquaNow Audience: The Future Of Water Stewardship"

Tune in 4.30 PM UK time TODAY Monday 11 November HERE for the next “aquaNOW Audience”!The event will be livestreamed HERE (LINK)The Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh, Scotland, will host the interactive panel discussion, produced by OOSKAnews and supported by “Scotland, the Hydro Nation”, engaging international water experts and Scottish expertise in global water-related challenges and solutions, filmed before a live audience and streamed online to a global viewership, with the theme "The Future Of Water Stewardship"...

5 Nov 2019 EDINBURGH, United Kingdom

"The Future Of Water Stewardship": aquaNOW Audience 11 November

Tune in 4.30 PM UK time Monday 11 November HERE for the next “aquaNOW Audience”!The Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh, Scotland, will host the interactive panel discussion, produced by OOSKAnews, engaging international water experts and Scottish expertise in global water-related challenges and solutions, filmed before a live audience and streamed online to a global viewership, with the theme "The Future Of Water Stewardship"...