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Drought Relief Farm fields across the Midwestern United States were quenched this week as heavy rainstorms over the central part of the country continued to relieve one of the worst droughts in U.S. history, Reuters reported. Grain prices, which were pushed up to record highs last summer due to the drought-damaged U.S. corn crop, could [...]
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Ethiopia is building a dam that will give the country control over the Nile River’s primary water source. The dam has far-reaching consequences for Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt, and the millions of people who depend on the river, The Ohio State University’s Andrew Carlson reported, and raises questions about who owns the river. Shifting Scarcity in [...]
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The Environmental Protection Agency released the volume-standards for renewable fuel production in 2013. Ten percent of all transportation fuel will come from renewable sources, which works out to 62.65 billion liters (16.55 billion gallons) from conventional biofuel and 53 million liters (14 million gallons) of cellulosic biofuel. Other contributions to the standard come from bio-diesel [...]
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Sandy, the hurricane turned mega-storm that battered the United States’ East Coast earlier this week, could cost insurers $US 5 billion to $US 10 billion, while economic losses are estimated anywhere between $US 10 billion and $US 20 billion, Reuters reported. The increasing cost of natural disasters could pressure Congress to take action on climate [...]
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The worst flooding Nigeria has seen in 50 years has destroyed many of the crops in the country’s major food-producing region, which may lead to a food crisis, BBC reported. The floods have killed 200 people and displaced more than 1 million. Meanwhile, fall flooding in southern Pakistan has affected 5 million people, according to [...]
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Environmental officials from the U.S. and Canada announced that they are about to sign a negotiated update to the 1987 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. The document “addresses critical health issues in the Great Lakes region,” the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in a news release. Infrastructure Investment The Egyptian government will spend $US 1.3 [...]
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Polluted drinking water may have sickened more than 1,000 people in an Egyptian town, though official government estimates say only 56 people were affected, the Egypt Independent reported. The incident sparked protests. The United Nations Green Climate Fund Board will meet August 23 for the first time to lay the groundwork for how the $US [...]
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Food Millions of tons of grain in India are at major risk at the moment as they are lying in the open, exposed to scorching summer heat and monsoon rains, according to Reuters. This story looks at the country’s rigid regime of subsidies for grain farmers, the lack of storage facilities and the inefficient, broken [...]
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What does Chicago have to do with the growing algae blooms in the Gulf of Mexico? Nutrient pollution from the Windy City and from agriculture in Illinois, Indiana and Iowa is pushing the Mississippi River to the brink of ecological disaster, according to The Economist. A key California Senate panel has supported legislation that would [...]
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The Czech Republic plans to set a two-year moratorium on granting licences for shale gas exploration, pending new legislation that will address the new gas extraction technique, Reuters reported. Almost half of the water companies in the United Kingdom will not be required to reduce their leakages before 2015, even though the country is in [...]
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Asia On the eve of India Water Week, The Wall Street Journal looks at India’s looming water crisis — from its rapid groundwater depletion to its chaotic water policy. In even more details, National Geographic explains how growing food demand is straining the energy and water supplies in India’s Gujarat State and globally. Crop losses [...]
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Hydropower and Water Security Two of the world’s biggest energy companies have pledged to measure the economic, social and environmental effects of their big hydropower projects using new voluntary guidelines, according to the Guardian. The building of dams and the increasing water consumption in upstream Afghanistan negatively affects water supply to Iran and could exacerbate [...]
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A South American drought keeps global grain reserves tight, but it could mean good things for North American corn producers.
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Water-Food Continuing low water levels in Texas may prompt the first-ever restrictions on irrigation in the state’s major rice-growing areas, Bloomberg reported. Egypt’s slide from breadbasket of the eastern Mediterranean to net grain importer signals an economic crisis that threatens to shake the nation, according to The Washington Post. Brazil is planning a new grains [...]
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Next to power shortages, water scarcity will be the next big growth barrier for India’s economy, according to a recent survey by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). Sixty percent of respondents said that water availability is already impacting their businesses, especially power plants, chemicals, textiles and cement factories. Rising sea [...]
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The Japanese government plans to open a robot-run super farm in the tsunami-hit Miyagi prefecture, Wired UK reported. The so-called “Dream Project” will feature unmanned tractors and robotic farmers, and will channel back the carbon dioxide produced by the machinery to crops to boost their growth. Canada’s natural resources minister accused opponents of a project [...]
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The European Commission will give Pakistan additional $8.96 million for emergency relief efforts in the flood-stricken Sindh Province, the South Asian News Agency reported. A second successive year of flooding is affecting more than 5.4 million people in Pakistan and has so far displaced more than 1.8 million. More and more regions around the world [...]
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The United States has started a $27 million project to remove two dams on the Elwha River in Washington, according to Reuters. What does the European debt crisis mean for Europe’s renewable energy development? Energy, climate change and water will be the most urgent development challenges facing countries over the next year, according to a [...]
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European airlines, biofuel producers and the European Commission have signed an agreement to produce 2 million tons of biofuel for aviation by 2020, even as debate rages over how green such fuels are, Reuters reports. Is the branding of biofuels as a low-carbon alternative to oil taking away from the discussion about their impact on [...]
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