(March 31, 2010) Southwest China is enduring a savagely long drought, forcing the government to resort to cloud-seeding measures. Yet artificial rain has been slight, and not enough for the farmers who haven’t seen natural rain since October.
Aid in Haiti creates competition with local business owners
(March 31, 2010) Haiti-based businessman Maulik Radia has weathered two coup d’etats, two major hurricanes and now an earthquake in the country he’s worked in for the past 25 years.
How best to help Haiti
(March 31, 2010) All past international efforts to turn Haiti into a functioning democracy have failed. There are better ways forward.
Another alleged scam unearthed in the carbon markets
(March 30 , 2010) Carbon markets are again facing allegations of a scam involving the trading of carbon credits. Reuters reports the Australian company WesternField Holdings Inc. has been accused of defrauding investors down under of A$3.5 million ($3.2 million) through a telemarketing swindle. Although blacklisted by the country’s securities regulator, the firm continues to operate.
Tackling corruption in Haiti is possible. Here’s how
(March 30, 2010) Haiti and its donors need to face up to bad governance and failed aid. They need to develop a strategy against corruption. This means more than controls and audits, more than training and technical assistance, needed though they are. We must ask how the design and implementation of Haiti’s reconstruction and development strategy might address what public administration experts Derick Brinkerhoff and Carmen Halpern called the sanctioned plunder that was and remains the core of Haitian politics.
Running on empty: Severe drought threatening China’s power sources
(March 30, 2010) The severe drought plaguing southwest China has not only left millions of people without adequate water supply, it has also dramatically reduced power production in the region.
HIPC debt relief is not the solution
(March 30, 2010) HIPC was a necessary evil we agree. We also recognize that it is a stop-gap measure that addresses the symptoms of our under-development, rather than the causes a half-hearted response to the ever-growing agitation for total debt cancellation that characterized the 1990s. But, even total debt cancellation will not solve our problems. At best, it will provide a temporary respite from the excruciating poverty we have known for decades now.
Despair as the mighty Mekong falters
(March 29, 2010) Chinese dams blamed for falling water levels and erosion of river bank.
Mekong states to face China over river
(March 27, 2010) Four Southeast Asian countries badly hit by falling water levels in the mighty Mekong river will next week confront China, blamed for squeezing the river with dams, but concessions from Beijing are unlikely.
The 2010 annual report on China’s environment: Friends of Nature’s China Green Book
(March 25, 2010) Last Friday, Beijing-based NGO, Friends of Nature, released its Annual Report on China’s Environment and Development 2010, a collection of articles from some of China’s top environmental groups, legal and environmental scholars, and journalists.
Southeast Asia drought triggers debate over region’s water resources
(March 25, 2010) A drought across southern China and Southeast Asia has brought the Mekong River to its lowest level in 50 years. The drought has led to debate over the vital resource and the effects that economic development, especially dam construction, may have on the river flow.
City to start progressive charging for water
(March 23, 2010) Beijing will pilot progressive charging for residential water consumption in the first half of this year, according to the Beijing Water Authority. Progressive charging for residential use will work on a quota basis, the Beijing Water Authority said Sunday. A consumption quota will be given to residents, from which anything over the fixed amount will be charged at twice the standard rate.
Inspection of city water usage
(March 22, 2010) The authorities are launching an inspection of venues in Beijing that consume the largest amounts of water, with a focus on public baths, as countries around the globe mark World Water Day today.
Tibet’s rivers strangled by dams
(March 22, 2010) China’s grand pipe-dream is to divert abundant water from the Tibetan highlands to reach water-starved cities of the north and west of China, which have around 300 million people, says Canadian documentary maker Michael Buckley in his recent film “Meltdown in Tibet”.
A river will run through it: project seeks to restore the Yongding River in Beijing
(March 18, 2010) Officials in Beijing have approved a plan to rebuild the once-flowing Yongding river in the southwest corner of the city. According to reports, officials have agreed to spend 17-billion RMB ($2.48-billion) to construct an ecosystem of interconnected creeks and lakes.
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