Egypt's water security is red line: Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson

Ahmed Abu Zeid

The Egyptian Foreign Affairs Ministry official spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid asserted on Thursday that Egypt’s water security is non-negotiable, saying that it is considered a red line that no one can approach.

Abu Zeid’s statements came synchronously with the visit of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to Uganda, after receiving an invitation from his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni to attend the summit of the Nile Basin countries.

He further added through his twitter account that Egypt faced harsh negotiations to turn the summit into a success, stressing the importance of the summit in launching a serious dialogue on the topics of the Nile water that would hopefully bring the views of the Nile Basin countries closer together.

The negotiations that are currently taking place in Uganda between Nile basin countries are aiming to decrease the negative impact of the Ethiopian Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam ‘GERD’ on the water security of countries such as Egypt and Sudan.

(http://www.egyptindependent.com/egypts-water-security-red-line-foreign-affairs-ministry-spokesperson/

Rivers and streams in parts of UK'under threat of drying up', says WWF

A report by the World Wide Fund for Nature warns over half of chalk streams and a quarter of rivers are under threat if action isn't taken.

At the River Chess in Buckinghamshire there's no water flowing.

The riverbed is dry, with cracked mud and weeds where the stream once ran.

Chairman of the River Chess Association Paul Jennings said: "This would be knee-depth crystal clear water that's come out of the chalk aquifer, with lovely fronds of weed. You have ducks and swans and all sorts of livestock in here plus fish. But we don't have that now."

It's been dried up since October, and it's not uncommon here.

"Over the last six years we've had four drying events, where there's been absolutely no water at all in this section," Mr Jennings said.

The problem is, when rivers dry up, the wildlife leaves. The River Chess is home to kingfishers, rare water voles and several species of fish.

The WWF warns 550 bodies of water in England and Wales are at risk of drying out.

Its report says over-abstraction and poor management are to blame.

Put simply, consumers and agriculture are taking out too much water from our rivers. More

Water Security and U.S. Foreign Policy in India, Pakistan, and the Philippines

In 2012, the U.S. National Intelligence Council judged that within the next 10 years, water problems would be a major contributor to instability in “many” countries that are of interest to the United States. South and Southeast Asia, with its many transboundary river basins, large populations, and geopolitical flashpoints, is one among a number of hotspots where such instability could occur.

To help policymakers understand the implications of water problems for national security, World Wildlife Fund-U.S. is working with global experts to produce a book highlighting water conflicts and U.S. strategic interests. Four experts spoke at the Wilson Center on May 9 about the dynamics at play in India, Pakistan, and the Philippines.

The World Economic Forum’s 2016 risk survey ranked water crisis as the top risk globally in the next decade. Among experts, there is growing concern about water issues and state fragility. “When government fails to provide basic water services, when they fail to protect the people against drought and flood, fail to preserve water resources captured by the elites, there is a potential loss of legitimacy and an opportunity for other parties to exploit those failures and deepen the instabilities,” said Claudia Sadoff, the World Bank’s global lead for water security and integrated resource management.

It is essential and urgent to “design and prioritize water programs that will lead to stability, development, and prosperity,” she said.

(https://www.newsecuritybeat.org/2017/06/water-security-u-s-foreign-policy-india-pakistan-philippines/

The Monk, the Engineer and the Artificial Glacier

This is an updated version of the short film 'The Monk, The Engineer and The Artificial Glacier'.

It has upadates about the work on the pilot project carried out in Jan- Feb 201 5, appended to the original film.
Through the Ice Stupa Artificial Glacier Project, Ladakh attempts to solve its water crisis caused by melting glaciers/climate change.

To support this project go to www.icestupa.org
Category Nonprofits & Activism
License Standard YouTube License

The Relentless March of Drought – That ‘Horseman of the Apocalypse’

ROME, Jun 7 2017 (IPS) - By 2025 –that’s in less than 8 years from today– 1.8 billion people will experience absolute water scarcity, and two thirds of the world will be living under water-stressed conditions. Now it is feared that advancing drought and deserts, growing water scarcity and decreasing food security may provoke a huge ‘tsunami” of climate refugees and migrants.
No wonder then that a major United Nations Convention calls drought ‘one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.’ See what the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) says in this regard.

By 2050, the demand for water is expected to increase by 50 per cent. As populations increase, especially in dry-land areas, more and more people are becoming dependent on fresh water supplies in land that are becoming degraded, the Bonn-based Convention secretariat warns.

“The world’s drought-prone and water scarce regions are often the main sources of refugees.” Monique Barbut.
Water scarcity is one of the greatest challenges of the twenty-first century, it underlines, adding that drought and water scarcity are considered to be the most far-reaching of all natural disasters, causing short and long-term economic and ecological losses as well as significant secondary and tertiary impacts.

To mitigate these impacts, drought preparedness that responds to human needs, while preserving environmental quality and ecosystems, requires involvement of all stakeholders including water users and water providers to achieve solutions for drought, explains UNCCD. More