Water Stress by 2040: A reminder!

Water stress will keep increasing, & even extremist groups would target water infrastructure more & more unless we work towards rejuvenation of our water sources, rivers and water bodies.  Instead we are just talking about managing the water that is left with us. 

Ranjan Panda

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Email: ranjanpanda@gmail.com

Asia's WATSAN infra requirement jumps from $59 to $800 bn just in 3 years!!! How?

It's a huge jump despite the fact that billions have already been spent. What has happened? Where are we lagging behind? Disasters?

Find more in my tweet: https://twitter.com/ranjanpanda/status/836571370444177410

By 2010, 38% of India's land was degraded. Are we missing out on some important causes?

Just read a DTE coverage of the 'National Conference on India's Soils: Science - Policy - Practice: Interfaces for Sustainable Futures' held at IIT Delhi.  The Conference, as reported by DTE, has rightly diagnosed and discussed some important causes of land degradation in India and has talked about degradation of natural resources, overuse of chemical fertilizers, etc.  However, I could not find a mention of role of local climate change triggers such as Thermal Power Plants, extractive industrialization that drain out our water resources, and the combined effect of Desertification.  These are some issues we have been harping at.  Or may be the Conference debated all that but details are not out yet.  Will wait for more details.

I must say, it's a good initiative by the organisers and we need to have more such dialogues that also suggest alternative and remedial measures as the Conference seems to have suggested some.

Find more on it at: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/government-policies-must-build-capacity-of-soils-not-promote-agrochemicals-experts-57246

Thanks and regards,

Ranjan Panda

Convenor, Water Initiatives Odisha (WIO)
Convenor, Combat Climate Change Network, India
Mahanadi River Waterkeeper (Member, Global Waterkeeper Alliance, New York)

Mob: +91-9437050103
Email: ranjanpanda@gmail.com

Skype: ranjan.climatecrusader

Tweet @ranjanpanda
Tweet @MahanadiRiver

Children bear the cost of extreme weather: New evidence from Mongolia - UNICEF

Most studies on the impact of extreme weather events focus on droughts or rainfall shocks in tropical or dry regions. However, cold shocks in the form of extremely harsh winters can also be damaging for children. While affecting all regions with continental climate and large seasonal variations in temperature, such as Russia, inland China or the Himalayas, these shocks are especially relevant in Mongolia.

More here: https://blogs.unicef.org/evidence-for-action/children-bear-the-cost-of-extreme-weather-new-evidence-from-mongolia/

Expect great dangers as sea oxygen level dip due to climate change!

The most in-depth study conducted on the subject so far points at dangerous developments.  It's now getting increasingly clear that climate change is burdening our oceans, that absorb more than 30% of carbon produced on land, the most. This study, carried out at Geomar Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Germany, found that ocean oxygen levels had fallen by 2% in 50 years.

This depletion of oxygen in our oceans in our oceans threatens future fish stocks and risks altering the habitat and behaviour of marine life, reports the Guardian.

You can read more details about this report at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/feb/20/fish-under-threat-oxygen-depletion-oceans-study

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Ranjan K Panda

Convenor, Combat Climate Change Network, India
Convenor, Water Initaitives Odisha
Mahanadi River Waterkeeper (Member, Global Waterkeeper Alliance, New York)

Mobile: +919437050103
Email: ranjanpanda@gmail.com, ranjanpanda@yahoo.com

Skype: ranjan.climatecrusader

Tweet @ranjanpanda

Tweet @MahanadiRiver

Egyptian invention cuts rice irrigation water by half: SciDevNet

[Cairo] Experts and stakeholders in Egypt warn of imminent water poverty as a result of the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which is about to become operational. Meanwhile, agricultural production consumes about 85 per cent of the country’s water resources, half of which goes towards rice irrigation.

Rice cultivation consumes more than 10 billion cubic meters of water annually, or more than one-sixth of Egypt's share of Nile water, Khaled Ghanem, professor of Organic Farming in Al-Azhar University, told SciDev.Net. And this does not account for the water used for cultivation in unauthorized areas, estimated to be about a third of that used in authorized ones, he explained. 

For more, please read the following link:

http://www.scidev.net/global/design/news/egyptian-invention-rice-irrigation-water.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=SciDevNewsletter&utm_campaign=international%20SciDev.Net%20update%3A%206%20February%202017