Finding out about water
 |
Christian
poverty-relief charity Tearfund
estimates that two thirds of the world's people will be suffering water
shortages by 2025. 71% of our planet may be covered by water, but less
than 1% of it is usable freshwater. "Water
refugees" and "water wars" will be the most visible signs of a future
where
freshwater is becoming increasingly scarce.
This is our student guide to water as an issue and the coming water crisis. Last updated: 21 February 2008. |
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Contents - what's on this page
- Cool stuff for schools: Introductions for kids and teachers
- News stories and feature articles
- Water around the world
- NGOs and campaign groups
- International organizations concerned with global water policy
- Useful reports and international agreements
- Miscellaneous links
- Resources not available on the web
Cool stuff for schools: Introductions for kids and teachers
- Water: article in Wikipedia
- Water: article in Columbia Encyclopedia
- Water: article in Encarta Key water aid statistics: How many people lack access to water? How many children die from water-related illnesses and diseases? These are more quick facts from WaterAid.
News stories and feature articles
- Water problems
- World warned on water refugees: 2001 BBC news story about Tearfund report predicting global water crisis by 2025
- Safeguarding our water: Scientific American, February 2001.
-
Water
conflict chronology: Peter Gleick's historical tour of water wars
and
other conflicts.
- The Water Wars by Ben Russell and Nigel Morris, Independent, 1996.
- [E]
Conversations -- Sandra Postel: The Coming Age of Water Scarcity
(Sep-Oct
1998)
- Water solutions
- Sandra Postel: Irrigated agriculture
- [E] Cover Story -- Water, Water Everywhere: Innovation
and Cooperation
are Helping Slake the World's Growing Thirst (Sep-Oct 1998)
- Global Crisis Solution Center: Improving Water Availability At Small Community and Family Level
- Water Conscious Canadian Firm Harvests Icebergs, Environment News Service, Aug 28, 2000
- Making
every drop count: Peter Gleick, Scientific American, February 2001.
- Growing
more food with less water: Sandra Postel, Scientific American,
February
2001.
- How
we can do it: Peter Gleick, Scientific American, February 2001.
- Rivers in crisis
Water around the world
- General worldwide information
-
United
Nations Environment Programme: Global Environmental Outlook 2000
(GEO-2000):
contains evaluations of freshwater resources for all regions of the
world.
- United Nations Environment Program Global Environment Monitoring System's Freshwater Quality Program
-
World Resources Institute: Freshwater
-
The
World's Water from Peter Gleick.
- United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization FAOSTAT: Includes irrigation and land use databases
-
Water:
the big issue for the 21st Century A talk by leading British
environmentalist Sir Crispin Tickell.
- Europe and Central Asia
- Middle East and Africa
- UN GEO 2000: Africa: Freshwater
- UN GEO 2000: West Asia: Freshwater
- The Nile Basin Initiative
- Berman, Ilan and Paul Michael Wihbey. "The New Water Politics of the Middle East." Strategic Review, Summer 1999.
- Al-Kattan, Mohammed. "As Prospects for Regional Political Settlements Fade, Israel Still Party to Valuable Water-Sharing Pacts." Washington Report on Middle-Eastern Affairs, December 1998, page 70.
- Asia Pacific
- UN GEO 2000: Asia & Pacific: Freshwater
- UN GEO 2000: Europe and Central Asia: Freshwater
- China: Yangtze Dam and China's water issues...
- North America
- Latin America and the Caribbean
NGOs and campaign groups
- Practical Action: Formerly known as Intermediate Technology Development Group.
- International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID)
-
International
Rivers Network (IRN)
- International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
- Medecin Sans Frontiers (MSF): water advocacy
- Tearfund
- United States Society on Dams
-
WaterAid
- Water for People
- WWF: The Conservation Organization
International organizations concerned with global water policy
- International Water Management Institute
- IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre
- Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security
- Stockholm Water Institute: home of the prestigious Stockholm Water Prize
- United Nations
- Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council
- World Bank: Water and sanitation
- World Commission on Dams
-
Dams
and Development: A UNEP project
- World Health Organization: water, sanitation, and health
- World Water Council
- World Water Day: Join the movement for action around the World Water Day, 22 March of each year.
Useful reports and international agreements
- The Dublin Statement on Water and Sustainable Development. Adopted by the International Conference on Water and the Environment (ICWE) in Dublin, Ireland, on 26-31 January 1992.
- Chapter 18: Protection Of The Quality And Supply Of Freshwater Resources: Application Of Integrated Approaches To The Development, Management And Use Of Water Resources. from Agenda 21 of the United Nations, as adopted by the Plenary in Rio de Janeiro, on June 14, 1992:
- Making Water Everybody's Business. A report by William J. Cosgrove and Frank R. Rijsberman for World Water Vision and the World Water Council. Cairo, Egypt: World Water Council, 1999.
- A Water Secure World: Vision for Water, Life, and the Environment by World Commission for Water in the 21st Century. Cairo, Egypt: World Water Council, 2000.
- Dams and Development: A New Framework for Decision-Making. The Report of the World Commission on Dams: An Overview. Cape Town, South Africa: World Commission on Dams, 2000. This website is currently not working. When we find the new site, we'll update this.
- World Water Demand and Supply, 1990 to 2025: Scenarios and issues by David Seckler, Upali Amarasinghe, David Molden, Radhika de Silva, and Randolph Barker. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute, 1998.
- Appraisal and Assessment of World Water Resources by Igor Shiklomanov, Water International, Volume 25, Number 1, March 2000.
- European Union: Water Policy
Miscellaneous links
- Water Conserve - Water Conservation Portal
- Home water conservation
- Water Treatment Information: a comprehensive comparison of methods for treating water.
- Drinking Water: Everything You Wanted To Know About Drinking Water, But Didn't Know Who To Ask
Resources not available on the web
Books
- De Villiers, Marq. Water Wars: Is the World's Water Running Out? London: Weidenfeld, 1999.
- De Villiers, Marq. Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource. New York: Mariner Books, 2001.
- Gleick, Peter. The World's Water 2000-2001: The Biennial Report on Freshwater Wesources. Washington DC: Island Press, 2000
- McCully, Patrick. Silenced Rivers. London: Zed Books, 1996.
- Postel, Sandra. Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity. New York: W.W. Norton, 1992.
- Postel, Sandra. Pillar of Sand: Can the Irrigation Miracle Last? New York: W.W. Norton, 1999.
- Postel, Sandra. "Redesigning Irrigated Agriculture." in State of the World 2000. London: Earthscan, 2000.
- Postel, Sandra, Gretchen Daily, and Paul Ehrlich. "Human Appropriation of Renewable Fresh Water." Science, February 1996, Vol 271, p. 785–788.
- Seckler, David, Upali Amarasinghe, David Molden, Radhika de Silva, and Randolph Barker. World Water Demand and Supply, 1990 to 2025: Scenarios and issues. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute, 1998.
- Tearfund. Running on Empty: A Call for Action to Combat the Crisis of Global Water Shortages. London: Tearfund, 2001.
- WaterAid. Mega-Slums: The Coming Sanitary Crisis. London: WaterAid.
