(April 19, 2010) Probe International has attached Luna B. Leopold and Walter B. Langbein’s report, “A Primer on Water” for our readers. Although the report is 50 years old, we believe it provides an excellent overview of water systems and water development.
Seismic Aspects of Large Dams
(April 19, 2010) A presentation by Dr. Martin Wieland, Chairman of the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) Committee on Seismic Aspects of Dam Design, on the seismic aspects of dams. Contains stunning photographs of the damage to the Zipingpu dam in the wake of the Wenchuan Earthquake in China’s Sichuan province on May 12, 2008.
Beijing court rejects Three Gorges lawsuit filed by Ren Xinghui
(April 17, 2010) His bid to obtain Three Gorges Fund information may have been thwarted but applicant Ren Xinghui vows to carry on.
China’s role in Mekong River maintenance
(April 17, 2010) Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Song Tao told participants in the Mekong River Council Summit in Hua Hin, Thailand on April 5 that China is willing to promote cooperation with downstream countries in mitigating droughts and floods, sharing hydrographic technology and information, exchange and training of hydrographic experts, etc.
Foreign aid and under-development in Africa
(April 17, 2010) Foreign aid has generally benefited the ruling elites in Africa, by among other things, enabling and perpetuating corrupt governments’ hold on power, and by extension, entrenching the pervasive underdevelopment. Over the past five decades, foreign emergency assistance to Africa has helped to avert hardship for many of Africa’s poor, but failed to promote any significant economic development.
Paying water’s real costs
(April 16, 2010) Freshwater ecosystems are under siege in many parts of the world — and one often overlooked driver of this crisis is how we value and price water.
Building dams in China’s seismic regions always a risk
(April 16, 2010) Fears of a potential collapse of the Changu dam, once again, highlight the problems of constructing dams in seismically active regions – especially so in China, where the quality of dams has been questioned.
Beijing court rejects Three Gorges lawsuit filed by Ren Xinghui
(April 16, 2010) This is a summary of an article originally published April 12, 2010 in the Outlook Weekly (Liaowang xinwen zhoukan). After waiting for more than two months, and making three trips seeking a reply from the Beijing First Intermediate People’s Court, Ren Xinghui finally got a clear answer. On April 8, Ren Xinghui was told the Court had decided not to accept his lawsuit and that a written order would be sent him within seven days.
‘Quiet corruption’?: The World Bank on Africa
(April 15, 2010) The ‘Africa Development Indicators 2010’ report on ‘quiet corruption’ is one more example of the World Bank’s distractive politics. Distractive because it seeks, wittingly or unwittingly, to sidetrack issues that are fundamental to understanding the continuing poverty and underdevelopment of Africa. Distractive also because it seeks, probably consciously and purposely, to exonerate the World Bank from its own role in perpetuating Africa’s mal-development.
Mounting tensions over the Mekong river
(April 15, 2010) Countries bordering the Mekong River have let the criticism flow unimpeded over China’s hydroelectric power expansion.
Beijing’s water consumption defies ongoing drought
(April 7, 2010) The number of businesses in Beijing that are using water lavishly continues to grow, despite a decades-long drought and a stressed watershed, say Chinese environmental researchers in a recent report.
Flushing it all away: Residents in Beijing caught wasting water
(April 1, 2010) Residents in drought-stricken Beijing are, literally, flushing their water resources away.
Beijing’s never-ending thirst
(April 14, 2010) Ongoing delays to the South-North Water Diversion Project will defer the delivery of one billion cubic meters of water annually over the next four years to Beijing. Now, a number of analysts in Beijing are offering suggestions on how the city should cope with its water crisis. Wang Jian And Liu Qiong, two Beijing-based water experts, say the city must ease the subsidies for water consumption to ensure that the price reflects its true cost, while implementing policies that promote the recycling of water and efficient use.
Gasping for air: Carbon markets stumble, again
(April 13, 2010) To save the planet from man-made global warming, the EU created a cap-and-trade system under which polluters can buy ever- diminishing rights to emit CO2. That “market,” created by regulatory fiat to satisfy the Kyoto Protocol, has been up and running since 2006. But last month, Hungary brought Europe’s carbon market to its knees. How? It sold “used” or “spent” carbon credits that found their way back onto the market, casting doubt on the authenticity of all credits.
How will Beijing cope with the delay of China’s south-to-north water diversion project?
(April 12, 2010) According to the original plan, one billion cubic meters of water was to be taken from the Yangtze River every year and diverted to thirsty Beijing through the central canal of the massive South-North Water Diversion Project.
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