rivers

Busting the "Water Wars" Myth

Oregon State University’s Aaron Wolf, in his studies of conflict and cooperation around international waterways, has found something both counter-intuitive and remarkable. Despite myths of “water wars,” cooperation is far more common than conflict when neighbors share a river and an aquifer, according to Wolf, author of the new Island Press book The Spirit of Dialogue.
Photo credit: Fountain by Flickr.com user Nicola

A New Water Story: In Conversation with Sandra Postel

If disasters related to droughts, floods, and other extreme weather seem more common globally, it’s because they are: nearly twice as many such disasters occur annually now as 25 years ago. These problems are not going away. Last year, the World Economic Forum declared water crises to be the top global risk to society over the next decade.

Who Speaks for the Trees?

“I am the Lorax! I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.” Dr. Seuss  
Photo credit: Fountain by Flickr.com user Nicola

Mexico: A Vital Water Partner

The last decade has seen a remarkable shift to the better in the relationship between the United States and Mexico over their shared water resources. But that positive turn is now under threat as the change in U.S. administration imposes an unexpected “reset” in the relationship between the two nations.

On the need for better water data

A student in one of our University of New Mexico Water Resources Program classes asked last week what the magic trick was to finding water data. We’d asked the students to do some really challenging modeling of the flow of water through New Mexico’s Middle Rio Grande watersheds, and one of the biggest difficulties was finding usable data to plug into their models.

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