Friday, December 28, 2007
Peru's Melting Glaciers
A harbinger of global climate change that is happening too rapidly all across this world to be just natural. But will the cause really matter should the millions of people who depend on these glaciers for water to survive no longer have it because the world was too busy debating instead of doing something to address it?
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Mexico, U.S. Suffer As Rio Grande Sucked Dry
Mexico, U.S. Suffer As Rio Grande Sucked Dry
By Robin Emmott Sun Dec 16, 8:19 PM ET
EJIDO LA LAGUNA, Mexico (Reuters) -
Julian Rosales' farm is within a stone's throw of one of North America's biggest rivers, but the Mexican landowner fears he will not be able to sow his crops next year for lack of water. Rusty tractors plow Rosales' parched earth along the banks of the Rio Grande on Mexico's border with Texas where thousands of local farmers say their livelihoods are at stake because Mexico was this year forced by a bilateral treaty to transfer millions of liters of water to the United States.
While farmers and lawmakers in arid northern Mexico seek to challenge the water payment in an international court, the farmers' plight is a symptom of a much bigger problem: the Rio Grande and its underground aquifers are being sucked dry on both sides of the frontier.
The eastern border region is slowly heading toward a water crisis.
"They have taken our water and these lands are dying. Our children are emigrating to the United States, some illegally," said Rosales, who grows the animal feed sorghum in the desert lands of Mexico's Tamaulipas state on the Gulf of Mexico.
Under a 1944 treaty, Mexico is required to transfer water to the United States every five years from the two dams the countries share on the Texas border. For farmers in Tamaulipas, that means ruined harvests and hardship every time the transfer is made.
The landscape is now dotted with abandoned farms and villages unable to enjoy the artificial irrigation that is central to agriculture in a desert region with sporadic rains. In a last attempt to save the farmers, lawmakers in Tamaulipas have called on Mexico's Supreme Court to rule on whether this year's water transfer was lawful. They argue the treaty stipulates the payment should be made with water from six Mexican tributaries further west along the border that feed the Rio Grande, not with surface water from Tamaulipas. If they win, lawmakers aim to take the United States to an international court to force it to return the water.
End of excerpt.
U.S. To Deny Mexico Water?
My previous entry about this from August, 2006 with more information on the 1944 treaty. And once again, greed takes precedence over human rights.
By Robin Emmott Sun Dec 16, 8:19 PM ET
EJIDO LA LAGUNA, Mexico (Reuters) -
Julian Rosales' farm is within a stone's throw of one of North America's biggest rivers, but the Mexican landowner fears he will not be able to sow his crops next year for lack of water. Rusty tractors plow Rosales' parched earth along the banks of the Rio Grande on Mexico's border with Texas where thousands of local farmers say their livelihoods are at stake because Mexico was this year forced by a bilateral treaty to transfer millions of liters of water to the United States.
While farmers and lawmakers in arid northern Mexico seek to challenge the water payment in an international court, the farmers' plight is a symptom of a much bigger problem: the Rio Grande and its underground aquifers are being sucked dry on both sides of the frontier.
The eastern border region is slowly heading toward a water crisis.
"They have taken our water and these lands are dying. Our children are emigrating to the United States, some illegally," said Rosales, who grows the animal feed sorghum in the desert lands of Mexico's Tamaulipas state on the Gulf of Mexico.
Under a 1944 treaty, Mexico is required to transfer water to the United States every five years from the two dams the countries share on the Texas border. For farmers in Tamaulipas, that means ruined harvests and hardship every time the transfer is made.
The landscape is now dotted with abandoned farms and villages unable to enjoy the artificial irrigation that is central to agriculture in a desert region with sporadic rains. In a last attempt to save the farmers, lawmakers in Tamaulipas have called on Mexico's Supreme Court to rule on whether this year's water transfer was lawful. They argue the treaty stipulates the payment should be made with water from six Mexican tributaries further west along the border that feed the Rio Grande, not with surface water from Tamaulipas. If they win, lawmakers aim to take the United States to an international court to force it to return the water.
End of excerpt.
U.S. To Deny Mexico Water?
My previous entry about this from August, 2006 with more information on the 1944 treaty. And once again, greed takes precedence over human rights.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Give The Gift of Water and Save A Life
Water Partners International: Thank You for Making this “Historic Moment” in Hile Village Possible
This is of course not something we should only think about or do during a holiday season, but it is something that those looking for an honorable and effective way to help this world should think about. Water is a basic essential of life. What better time of the year to think of this than at the time when we celebrate life and peace?
The link above leads to a story about people saved by mine and others' contributions. They now have potable water and their quality of life has improved greatly. This is the difference and impact one person can make upon this world. Therefore, at this time of year when our thoughts should most assuredly turn to peace, love, and those less fortunate who need the opportunity to have a better life, Water Partners International is one organization on the top of my list.
To see children able to attend school because they don't have to fetch dirty diseased water or go without it is a gift beyond compare. Save a life this holiday season. Give the gift of water.
Water Partners International
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Asian Meet Looks To Confront Water Crises
Asian Meet Looks To Confront Water Crises
Asian meet looks to confront water crises
by Staff Writers
Beppu, Japan (AFP) Dec 3, 2007
Asian nations came together Monday for a first "water summit" to plan action amid warnings of a dire situation with water resources shrinking and natural disasters on the rise.
The 49-nation conference in Beppu, a southern Japanese town famed for natural hot springs, comes amid growing concern that climate change is aggravating water-related incidents in Asia and elsewhere.
Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito, known for his studies of water, said Asia was home to 60 percent of the world's people but had only 40 percent of its water resources.
"The situation in the Asia-Pacific region does not allow us to be optimistic," said Naruhito, who is honorary president of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's advisory board on water and sanitation.
"As of 2004, there were 700 million people who had no access to safe drinking water and 1.9 billion who were without basic sanitation" in Asia, he said. "In this respect, our region is in the most serious situation in the world, especially in providing sanitation," he said.
Officials, including several heads of state, will hold two days of talks here on ways to step up cooperation on water-related issues that cross borders. The meeting was set up by last year's World Water Summit in Mexico City.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hopefully, the one important factor we will hear addressed at this meeting and the UN Conference in Bali will be: Population. It is at the crux of what is now happening regarding our environment. We simply do not have an adequate amount of resources to continue to support this growing global population at the same rapacious pace it is wasting them while conducting business the old way. This then will mean a change of mindset for those living on this planet now who are so used to having all they want whenever they want it. It will require people looking towards the future as they look inside themselves and adjusting their behavior to reflect that moral consciousness. Do we however as a global community have the moral willpower to actually think beyond ourselves and the here and now? We are now at a point where we do not have any choice, especially in regards to water. So when do we move beyond meetings to results?
Asian meet looks to confront water crises
by Staff Writers
Beppu, Japan (AFP) Dec 3, 2007
Asian nations came together Monday for a first "water summit" to plan action amid warnings of a dire situation with water resources shrinking and natural disasters on the rise.
The 49-nation conference in Beppu, a southern Japanese town famed for natural hot springs, comes amid growing concern that climate change is aggravating water-related incidents in Asia and elsewhere.
Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito, known for his studies of water, said Asia was home to 60 percent of the world's people but had only 40 percent of its water resources.
"The situation in the Asia-Pacific region does not allow us to be optimistic," said Naruhito, who is honorary president of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's advisory board on water and sanitation.
"As of 2004, there were 700 million people who had no access to safe drinking water and 1.9 billion who were without basic sanitation" in Asia, he said. "In this respect, our region is in the most serious situation in the world, especially in providing sanitation," he said.
Officials, including several heads of state, will hold two days of talks here on ways to step up cooperation on water-related issues that cross borders. The meeting was set up by last year's World Water Summit in Mexico City.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hopefully, the one important factor we will hear addressed at this meeting and the UN Conference in Bali will be: Population. It is at the crux of what is now happening regarding our environment. We simply do not have an adequate amount of resources to continue to support this growing global population at the same rapacious pace it is wasting them while conducting business the old way. This then will mean a change of mindset for those living on this planet now who are so used to having all they want whenever they want it. It will require people looking towards the future as they look inside themselves and adjusting their behavior to reflect that moral consciousness. Do we however as a global community have the moral willpower to actually think beyond ourselves and the here and now? We are now at a point where we do not have any choice, especially in regards to water. So when do we move beyond meetings to results?
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