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The Mosul Dam is Iraq’s largest dam. It is failing. A breach would cause a colossal wave that could kill as many as a million and a half people. If the dam ruptured, it would likely cause a catastrophe of Biblical proportions, loosing a wave as high as a hundred feet that would roll down the Tigris, swallowing everything in its path for more than a hundred miles. Large parts of Mosul would be submerged in less than three hours. Along the riverbanks, towns and cities containing the heart of Iraq’s population would be flooded; in four days, a wave as high as sixteen feet would crash into Baghdad, a city of six million people.
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This Christmas, remind refugee families from Syria that there are people out there who care about them. For over five years now, we have watched the horrors of the Syrian War on our screens. We have watched families being torn apart, homes destroyed and left as rubble on the ground, and innocent children being injured and killed. It is very easy for you to watch this and feel as though there is nothing that you can do to help these people. But you can do something.
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Freshwater Governance for the 21st Century contains information that many practitioners in the water field will be looking for. The water-related challenges have reached a climax with an unoptimistic future expected to feature more competition between users. These stresses will be exacerbated by climate change which is likely to increase water demand while shrinking water supplies. Intense competition for water resources will be experienced not only by private users but will also affect the public sector; however, national plans repeatedly fail to show the ability to provide a coherent outlook for development in which water needs are adequately projected and resources smartly shared.
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Unnerved by the prospect of a parched Iran where internal and external conflicts on water resources would be unavoidable, Abbas Araqchi, who served as top nuclear negotiator with great powers, has called for a more active and creative hydro-politics. The average annual precipitation in Iran is nearly 220 millimeters, and has decreased by 10–15% over the past decade, according to Araqchi. Meager annual rainfalls, coupled with rapid population growth and sprawling cities, have put the geo-politically strategic Middle East country in a precarious situation, where the threat of water conflicts looms large.
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The Hague, 16 November 2016 • Today, Ms Sigrid Kaag, Dutch top diplomat working for the United Nations, received the Carnegie Wateler Peace Prize 2016 during an official ceremony at the Peace Palace. The Carnegie Foundation, which owns and manages the Peace Palace, has awarded this peace prize to Ms Kaag for her successful efforts in accomplishing sensitive and dangerous missions in the Middle East. The Board of the Carnegie Foundation lauded her dedication and personal approach. She is held in particularly high esteem for her ability to bring unity. The Chairman of the Foundation, Mr Bernard Bot, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, commented her remarkable talent in bringing parties together and to consensus, adding that »Ms. Kaag does not think in problems, but encourages parties to act«.
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The ever increasing demand for freshwater has taken its toll, and California’s reservoirs are only at 46.4% of their capacity. Now, by using imagery provided by the Landsat 7 and Landsat 8 satellites, we can also see how the reservoirs have changed during the 21st century.
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For the first time during a UNFCCC Conference of Parties a special day was devoted to action on water issues, as a way of providing solutions to help implement the Paris Agreement. Seven of the ten countries most threatened by climate change are in Africa. Water is the first sector through which the African population suffers from the impact of climate change — this is the case not only in Africa, but all around the world.
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Before the Flood presents a riveting account of the dramatic changes now occurring around the world due to climate change. The film shows Leonardo DiCaprio visiting various regions of the globe exploring the impact of man-made global warming. As a narrator, DiCaprio comments these encounters as well as archive footages. DiCaprio repeatedly references a 15th-century triptych by Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights, which he uses as an analogy of the present course of the world toward potential ruin as depicted on its final panel. DiCaprio’s comments and inquiries focus extensively on climate change denial, mostly among corporate lobbyists and politicians of the United States.
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