This 10th edition of the Global Risks report is published at a time of profound transformations to our global context. Ongoing political, economic, social, environmental and technological developments are challenging many of our underlying assumptions. Across every sector of society, decision-makers are struggling to cope with heightened complexity and uncertainty resulting from the world's highly interconnected nature and the increasing speed of change.
Lesley Stahl reports on disturbing new evidence that our planet's groundwater is being pumped out much faster than it can be replenished.
CIRCLE OF BLUE: Despite a request for termination from Sen. James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s internal watchdog will continue investigating how well state and federal agencies are managing threats to water from hydraulic fracturing,...
CIRCLE OF BLUE: Despite a request for termination from Sen. James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s internal watchdog will continue investigating how well state and federal agencies are managing threats to water from hydraulic fracturing,...
CIRCLE OF BLUE: Water Supply - Residents of Sao Paulo will likely be facing daily water shutoffs due to a drought that has drawn down water levels in its main drinking water reservoir to just 5 percent of capacity, Bloomberg News reported. The city’s water utility has so far resisted shutoffs, but Brazil’s national regulators say it will not be allowed to use the remaining amount of water in the reservoir unless it commits to water cuts.
CIRCLE OF BLUE: A private company has filed paperwork to prepare plans for a large hydroelectric dam in Alaska. Glacial Energy LLC, based in Wasilla, Alaska, is seeking a preliminary permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a 113-meter (370-foot) high dam on the Talkeetna River, some 177 kilometers (110 miles) north of Anchorage. The permit allows the applicant to claim the first spot in line for building a dam in that location, and it allows the company to conduct technical and environmental studies.
This is our first chance to engage so thank you for meeting us here. We describe our involvement with freshwater as a story and perhaps an epic story because of its scope, scale, and duration. As we mentioned on the website we know we are only part of the story and can only tell our portion. So again, we invite you to share your story, your relationship or your experience with water....
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), in collaboration with the Homeland Infrastructure Foundation Level Data (HIFLD) Members and the World Wide Human Geography Data (WWHGD) Leaders announce a combined HIFLD/WWHGD working group meeting at NGA Campus East (NCE) in Springfield, Virginia from 30 September to 01 October 2014.
According to the World Economic Fourm's Global Risks 2013 report, the water supply crisis is ranked as a top-five risk, in terms of both its likelihood to happen and its impact. With global freshwater demand projected to exceed current supply by over 40% by 2030...
Our lives are changing at an unprecedented pace. Transformational shifts in our economic, environmental, geopolitical, societal and technological systems offer unparralleled opportunities, but the interconnections among them also imply enhanced systemic risks...
With continuing population growth, rising energy demand and the growing impact of climate change, the water-food-energy nexus is rapidly becoming a central concern for the world, and first and foremost for Africa....
Although the earth has 35 million cubic kilometers of freshwater, it is unevenly distributed across the planet or is located in areas that are expensive to tap or access: 70% is trapped in the form of ice or snow, or deep underground....