Water Key Element In Mideast Peace

Water Key Element In Mideast Peace

Excerpt:

'Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Israel must address the vital issue of water in the West Bank if meaningful peace talks are to take place. Israel's leaders said nothing, but Abbas had touched on one of the most sensitive issues in the seemingly endless negotiations, which have been in abeyance for the last few years, and one on which any expectation of a comprehensive settlement will probably ultimately rest.Israel's unilateral control over rivers and aquifers meant scarce water resources were not being shared equitably "as required by international law," he declared. "It is with dismay that I see 9,000 Israeli settlers in the Jordan Valley utilize one-quarter of the water that the entire Palestinian population in the West Bank utilizes," he told the World War Forum in Istanbul.

In the largely arid Middle East, water is more valuable than oil and has been a source of conflict since time immemorial. As the world's resources, from oil to timber and minerals, dwindle, the prospect of more water wars in the Middle East in the decades ahead increase with each passing day. The crisis is deepened by rapidly expanding populations across the Arab world. This, coupled with industrial growth and a relentless drive for food self-sufficiency, is draining water supplies faster than they can be replenished. Global warming accelerates the damage.

Climate experts warn that one-third of the Earth's surface may be at risk of extreme drought by the end of the century, triggering mass migrations of "environmental refugees." Many of those will be in the Middle East and North Africa. The region has been hit by a severe drought for the last five years, making the water issue all that more critical, aggravating a dispute between the Israelis, whose own water resources are dwindling, and the Palestinians, who sit on a major aquifer under the West Bank that Israel covets as much as its ever-expanding archipelago of settlements.Israel views the water from the West Bank -- as it did the water it siphoned off from the Litani River in Lebanon during its 1978-2000 occupation of that country's southern zone -- as vital to its national security. The Palestinians will not be able to sustain a viable independent state without water.
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How hard is this for Israel or any oher country to understand? Water is the lynchpin to peace.

Large Dead Zone Predicted For Gulf Of Mexico This Summer

Large Dead Zone Predicted For Gulf Of Mexico This Summer

Excerpt:

'A team of NOAA-supported scientists from the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, Louisiana State University, and the University of Michigan is forecasting that the "dead zone" off the coast of Louisiana and Texas in the Gulf of Mexico this summer could be one of the largest on record.
The dead zone is an area in the Gulf of Mexico where seasonal oxygen levels drop too low to support most life in bottom and near-bottom waters.

Scientists are predicting the area could measure between 7,450 and 8,456 square miles, or an area roughly the size of New Jersey. However, additional flooding of the Mississippi River since May may result in a larger dead zone. The largest one on record occurred in 2002, measuring 8,484 square miles.

Dead zones are caused by nutrient runoff, principally from agricultural activity, which stimulates an overgrowth of algae that sinks, decomposes, and consumes most of the life-giving oxygen supply in the water.

The dead zone size was predicted after researchers observed large amounts of nitrogen feeding into the Gulf from the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers. The rivers experienced heavy water flows in April and May that were 11 percent above average.

"The high water volume flows coupled with nearly triple the nitrogen concentrations in these rivers over the past 50 years from human activities has led to a dramatic increase in the size of the dead zone," said Gene Turner, Ph.D., a lead forecast modeler from Louisiana State University.

This forecast helps coastal managers, policy makers, and the public better understand and combat the sources of the dead zones. For example, the models that generate this forecast have been used to determine nutrient reduction targets required to reduce the size of the dead zone.

This hypoxic, or low-to-no oxygen area, is of particular concern because it threatens valuable commercial and recreational Gulf fisheries by destroying critical habitat."

End of excerpt
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It isn't enough that we are killing the land and air with toxic waste and poisoning our food with an overuse of pesticides and herbicides... we are now literally sucking the life out of our water. Hypoxia is the phenomenon we now see in the Gulf Of Mexico, which is a lack of oxugen in the water whicha lso effects marinlife and which also effects many bodies of water worldwide.

And we, humans, are doing it. In our zeal to make lots of money that we think we can actually enjoy in a poisoned world where our health and the sustainability of our planet is threatened, we have lost touch with our true purpose as stewards of this planet. Pesticides, herbicides, CAFOS, climate change, and the relentless lobbying of the brokers of these poisons to politicians are all part of the vicious circle we now are part of.

Turkey Boosts Iraq Water Supplies

Update to previous report: Turkey Blamed For Looming Crop Disaster

Turkey Boosts Iraq Water Supplies

Somewhat good news considering the drought Iraq is currently in. Although, considering they are also growing Monsanto seeds, I don't know how truly prosperous Iraqi farmers will be now.

See here:

Mutant Seeds For Mesopotamia

Drought and Desertification Worsening In Tibet

Drought and Desertification Worsening In Tibet

"Rising temperature and deforestation have intensified drought and desertification in Tibet, China's state media said.

Drought conditions have hit 33 counties in five of the six prefectures in Tibet, affecting 15.3 percent of the Tibetan plateau, Xinhua said, quoting the regional drought relief and flood control headquarters.

According to the report, the drought has also killed 13,601 head of cattle.
Nine meteorological centers in Tibet have not seen substantial rain for 226 consecutive days, Zhao Yiping, head of the Tibet Regional Meteorological Bureau said.

The drought has also been worsened by higher than normal temperatures. Tibet has experienced temperatures 0.4 to 2.3 celsius degrees higher than normal years, Zhao said.

The report by Xinhua news agency follows a warning by China's top weather official last month that Tibet faced a growing threat of drought and floods as global warming melts its glaciers.

The head of the China Meteorological Bureau, Zheng Guogang, last month was quoted by Xinhua as warning that global warming was accelerating glacial shrinkage, causing Tibet's lakes to swell.

"If the warming continues, millions of people in western China will face floods in the short term and drought in the long run."

Moreover, desertification is spreading by 39,600 hectares (98,000 acres) annually in Tibet, an official at the regional forestry bureau was quoted as saying by the Xinhua news agency."
end of excerpt.
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Reported by Chinese media. Yes China, but keep building those dams.

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China Wants 20 More Dams On The Headwaters of The Yangtze.

WHAT ARE THEY THINKING? Really. Glaciers are melting faster than predicted. Lakes are swelling which have already caused flooding in villages in the Himalayas. And once the glaciers are gone with temperatures rising and the water trickling to almost nothing, what good will those dams have done? Let the water flow naturally and use it's natural power to harness electricity. Use the power of the sun. Let the water flow to sustain the people and allow them to grow food. These dam and damn schemes are only for profit and control. In a time when drought is now a threat not only to agriculture and the climate but to life itself, it is irresponsible and immoral of the Chinese government to continue plans for all of these dams.

Question Gavin Newsom

Question to Gavin Newsom on California drought /desalination

Current Green is asking questions of Gavin Newsom, mayor of San Francisco who is running for Governor. Water Is Life submitted the question above regarding the current California drought and desalination. Current Green will be carrying the interview on their station on June 11 at 12 noon. You can get all the information about it at the link.

160 Syrian Villages Deserted Due To Climate Change

160 Syrian Villages Deserted Due To Climate Change

DAMASCUS (AFP) – Some 160 villages in northern Syria were deserted by their residents in 2007 and 2008 because of climate change, according to a study released on Tuesday.

The report drawn up by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) warns of potential armed conflict for control of water resources in the Middle East.

"The 2007/8 drought caused significant hardship in rural areas of Syria. In the northeast of the country, a reported 160 villages have been entirely abandoned and the inhabitants have had to move to urban areas," it said.

In Syria and also in Jordan, Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, "climate change threatens to reduce the availability of scarce water resources, increase food insecurity, hinder economic growth and lead to large-scale population movements," the report said.

"This could hold serious implications for peace in the region," the Canada-based institute said.

The study, financed by Denmark, predicts a hotter, drier and less predictable climate in the Middle East, "already considered the world's most water-scarce and where, in many places, demand for water already outstrips supply."

Oli Brown, who co-wrote the report with Alec Crawford, said: "Climate change itself poses real security concerns to the region. It could lead to increased militarisation of strategic natural resources, complicating peace agreements."

"Israel is already using climate change as an excuse to increase their control over the water resources in the region," he said.

In the study's conclusions, Brown and Crawford said: "As a region, the Levant produces a tiny fraction of global emissions -- less than one percent of the world total.

The exception among Levant countries is Israel, "whose emissions -- 11.8 metric tonnes per capita -- exceed the European average of 10.05 tonnes," they said.

"This may exacerbate the existing deep mistrust of the West, including Israel, which would be seen as causing a problem that it is unable or unwilling to resolve," they said.

The study also revealed the challenge posed by population growth.

"The combined population of the Levant will grow to 71 million by 2050 from 42 million in 2008" with major implications for water demand, food supply, housing and jobs, it said.

snip

"Rainfall shrank by 10 millimetres (a year) between 1956 and 2006 while temperatures rose by (an average) 0.5 degrees Celsius, though below the worldwide average of 0.6 degrees," Syrian meteorologist Khales Mawed said.

The IISD predicts even modest global warming would lead to a 30-percent drop in water in the Euphrates, which runs through Turkey, Syria and Iraq, while the Dead Sea would shrink in volume by 80 percent by the end of the century.
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The King of Jordan stated that the only thing he would go to war for was water. If a water policy is not agreed to with Israel also having to treat Gaza and other areas more equitably regarding water distribution, that war may come sooner than we think. And actually, that is what the current ongoing war is partly about as it is. It is my contention that the Israeli government wishes to place their settlements right over the two largest acquifers in this area in order to control the water supply. And with climate change and massive pollution taking its toll on the water in this region, I can see nothing but war associated with such a move.

Previous entry:

Case of Gaza: Water Scarcity and Conflict

It's always been about the water.