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92. Making the Most of Afghanistan's River Basins
- Author:
- Benjamin Sturtewagen and Matthew King
- Publication Date:
- 02-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- EastWest Institute
- Abstract:
- This paper reflects the discussions at a number of public seminars and private meetings during 2009 on water cooperation in Afghanistan and its region. These meetings, convened by the East West Institute (EWI) in Kabul, Islamabad, Brussels, and Paris, collected the thoughts and recommendations of more than one hundred experts and policy makers from Afghanistan, its neighbors, and the international community. The aim was to facilitate discussion that would lead to new ideas and viable policy options on how to improve regional cooperation on water between Afghanistan and its neighbors.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Natural Resources, and Water
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, Paris, Brussels, and Islamabad
93. Recurrent cost boom threathens Millennium Development Goals
- Author:
- Ole Therkildsen
- Publication Date:
- 11-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- At the September 2010 UN summit on the Millennium Development Goals the Secretary-General stressed that tremendous progress in school enrolment, disease control and access to clean water had been achieved. This policy brief addresses a question that he did not talk about. How shall the achievements in relation to the goals be sustained beyond January 1, 2016?
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Education, Health, Poverty, and Water
- Political Geography:
- United Nations
94. A Political Storm Over the Nile
- Author:
- Adonia Ayebare
- Publication Date:
- 12-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- International Peace Institute
- Abstract:
- The Nile River basin is a vast area covering ten states, of which five are among the poorest in the world. Home to more than 350 million people, it is a troubled region that has been ravaged by armed conflicts, state failure, genocide, severe drought, and aid dependency. But it is also an area with great potential and geopolitical significance. In the past, the Nile River, with its origin in East and Central Africa, has been at the center of international affairs, most critically during the Suez Canal Crisis in 1956. Currently, the Nile is among the postreferendum issues being negotiated by parties to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Sudan: the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM).
- Topic:
- Natural Resources and Water
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Sudan, Arabia, and North Africa
95. Mining Water for the Revolution: Marte R. Gómez and the Business of Agrarian Reform in "La Laguna," Mexico, 1920s to 1960s
- Author:
- Mikael Wolfe
- Publication Date:
- 07-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Kellogg Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- In this paper I examine the little explored historical relationship between advances in “ecotechnical” knowledge of Mexico's scarce and fragile water resources and the state developmental imperatives of agrarian reform from the 1920s to the 1960s. In particular, I focus on how this relationship played out in the Comarca Lagunera of north-central Mexico, which was the emblematic region of Cardenista agrarian reform in the 1930s. Drawing on primary documentation, technical journals, newspapers, and secondary sources, I argue that the key actor in this history, hydraulic engineer-agronomist and Secretary of Agriculture Marte R. Gómez, epitomized the contradictions among advances in scientific understanding of Mexico's hydrology, agricultural development, and business. I further contend that these contradictions were at the heart of Mexican agrarian reform and its long-term ecological as well as social and economic unsustainability.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Economics, Natural Resources, and Water
- Political Geography:
- Latin America and Mexico
96. International responses to Pakistan's water crisis: opportunities and challenges
- Author:
- Michael Kugelman
- Publication Date:
- 11-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution
- Abstract:
- Pakistan faces a multidimensional water crisis that claims hundreds of thousands of lives every year. The root causes of the crisis are twofold: circumstantial, which are linked to poor water-resource management policies (including water-wasting flood irrigation) structural, tied to factors deeply ingrained in politics and society such as the obsession with India, inequitable rural land-ownership and endemic water misgovernance (for example, exploitation of the rotational irrigation system to the detriment of the poor). To resolve the crisis, both types of cause will need to be tackled, and the international community can play an invaluable role.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Water
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan and India
97. Globalization and Scarcity: Multilateralism for a world with limits
- Author:
- Alex Evans
- Publication Date:
- 11-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- Globalization has improved the living standards of hundreds of millions of people – but growing resource scarcity means it risks becoming a victim of its own success. Left unaddressed, scarcity of food, energy, water, land and other key 'natural assets' has the potential to trigger intensifying zero sum competition between states – in the process, increasing poverty, state fragility, economic instability, inflation, and strategic resource competition between major powers.
- Topic:
- Security, Agriculture, Economics, Energy Policy, Environment, Globalization, Natural Resources, Water, and Food
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
98. Fracture Lines: Will Canada's Water Be Protected in the Rush to Develop Gas?
- Author:
- Ben Parfitt
- Publication Date:
- 10-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto
- Abstract:
- On October 14, 2010, POWI released a discussion paper and held a conference on Fracture Lines: Will Canada’s Water Be Protected in the Rush to Develop Shale Gas? The conference and the discussion paper were the first major formal public discussion in Canada of the shale gas issue. As supplies of fossil fuel dwindle, oil and gas companies are increasingly looking to unconventional sources such as shale gas to supply energy needs. The Fracture Lines paper outlined the potential impacts of shale gas exploration and production on groundwater resources, and described the paucity of groundwater mapping and lack of effective regulatory oversight. With possible shale gas deposits in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick and a loud public outcry against shale gas drilling in Quebec, the conference attracted a wealth of attention. Because of its availability in both languages and its timeliness, the conference received extensive media coverage and over 500 logins to the webcast. In the wake of the conference, the research contained in the Fracture Lines report was determined to be a major factor in the decision to expand the terms of reference for a Parliamentary Committee studying offshore drilling issues in Canada. The Committee opted to include shale gas in its deliberations. The issue of how to protect groundwater resources from the impacts of shale gas exploration continues to be a burning issue, across Canada and around the world.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Environment, Oil, Water, and Gas
- Political Geography:
- Canada and North America
99. "Bridge over Troubled Water? Envisioning a China-Taiwan Peace Agreement"
- Author:
- Phillip C. Saunders and Scott L. Kastner
- Publication Date:
- 04-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- International Security
- Institution:
- Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
- Abstract:
- After eight years of cross-strait tensions, the decisive 2008 Taiwan election victories by the Kuomintang (KMT, or Nationalist Party) and KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou provide a major opportunity to improve relations between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan. The Chinese Communist Party welcomed Ma's victory as reducing the threat of Taiwan independence and creating an atmosphere for resumed dialogue and closer ties. Recognizing that final resolution of Taiwan's status is currently impossible, leaders on both sides have raised the possibility of negotiating a peace agreement that might stabilize the cross-strait situation. If successful, an agreement might greatly reduce the chance of a crisis that could draw the United States and China into a military conflict. Such an agreement could also provide a positive example that might apply to other cases of long-term political or ethnic conflict. This article examines what a China-Taiwan peace agreement might look like and whether it could be effective in managing tensions and reducing the risk of war.
- Topic:
- War and Water
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, and Taiwan
100. Sustainable Water Systems: Step One - Redefining the Nation's Infrastructure Challenge
- Author:
- David Monsma, Regan Nelson, and Ray Bolger
- Publication Date:
- 05-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Aspen Institute
- Abstract:
- During the past 150 years, a complex water infrastructure has been built throughout the U.S. to supply homes and businesses with clean water, collect and treat wastewater and manage stormwater – and an equally complex regulatory system has evolved alongside it. A generation of progress has been made under the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. However, serious challenges still exist for the nation's freshwater resources, including insufficient progress in achieving water quality goals, overuse of water resources, and looming challenges associated with global climate change, including droughts, heavy storm events and flooding. Meanwhile, water and wastewater utilities are struggling with aged infrastructure that requires upgrades or replacement. Control of urban storm water and rural runoff will require large new investments. Appropriate sources of funding and affordability of these investments also requires attention.
- Topic:
- Natural Resources, Water, and Infrastructure
- Political Geography:
- United States