Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Christopher Pala ALMATY, Kazakhstan, Nov 18, 2011 (IPS) – Rarely have so many donor countries spent so much for so long to achieve so little. In fact, the scores of Western countries ranging from the Netherlands to the United States that have tried for 20 years to [...]
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Majority Still Lack Access to Safe Water
July 12, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Charles M. Mushizi MBABANE, Swaziland, Jul 12, 2011 (IPS) – Only two in every five people in the Southern African Development Community has access to safe water for drinking and household use. Three quarters of those lacking access, live in rural areas and the majority of these [...]
ZIMBABWE: Harvesting Water for Food Security
June 28, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Busani Bafana GWANDA, Zimbabwe, Jun 28, 2011 (IPS) – Earth mounds running across her field hold back the water that Caroline Ndlovu uses to grow maize, pumpkins, beans and watermelons long after the short rainy season in this arid part of Zimbabwe. Ndlovu, a mother of three [...]
BOLIVIA: Cochabamba Still Thirsty
March 22, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Franz Chávez* LA PAZ, Mar 22, 2011 (Tierramérica) – There is still no apparent solution to the unsatisfied demand for drinking water in Cochabamba, 11 years after this central Bolivian city made international headlines with a popular uprising that halted the privatisation of water service. There is [...]
ECUADOR: Water Management Transcends "Public or Private" Debate
March 22, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Gonzalo Ortiz * QUITO, Mar 22, 2011 (Tierramérica) – For one day, civil servants are trading their desks for the chilly highland plains in a rural community 3,500 metres above sea level on the outskirts of the Ecuadorian capital, where they are helping to plant native trees. [...]
Peak Water Has Already Come and Gone
March 22, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Stephen Leahy UXBRIDGE, Canada, Mar 22, 2011 (IPS) – Canadian Kevin Freedman is celebrating World Water Day Tuesday by living on 25 litres of water a day, instead of the North American average of 330 litres per day. And he has enlisted 31 others in his "Water [...]
LATIN AMERICA: Wave of Water Privatisation Over; Coverage Challenge Remains
March 22, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Gonzalo Ortiz* QUITO, Mar 21, 2011 (IPS) – Now that the wave of water privatisation of the 1980s and 1990s has let up, the main challenge facing water utilities in Latin America is expanding coverage of high-quality water services. In Mexico, water has always been publicly controlled. [...]
U.N. Water Conference Focuses on Cities
March 21, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Thandi Winston CAPE TOWN, Mar 21, 2011 (IPS) – As a U.N. conference on water opens in South Africa today, the country’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research has repeated warnings that the country faces a water supply crisis. Experts attending the three-day conference will consider the [...]
A Moment of Silence for Dying Millions on World Water Day
March 19, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Mar 18, 2011 (IPS) – When the international community commemorates World Water Day next week, perhaps it should ponder the words of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who once remarked he does not expect people the world over to stop what they are doing [...]
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Plumbing Grey Data for Clear Water
March 16, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Alma Balopi GABORONE, Mar 15, 2011 (IPS) – They come like pilgrims to the Department of Geological Surveys office in Lobatse, 120 kilometres south of the Botswanan capital. In the sparsely furnished offices there, they pore over charts, trying to take the guesswork out of choosing where [...]
