Water & Sanitation

Understanding Rio+20

JOHANNESBURG, 3 April 2012 (IRIN Global) - A Nobel laureate, a Swedish environmentalist’s idea, the “doughnut” concept, Scandinavia’s sense of social capital, measuring the quality of life, and valuing the oceans are just some of the things trending in the run-up to the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development due to be held on 20-22 June 2012. full report

ISRAEL: Water being used to coerce Bedouin villagers, says NGO

 UMM AL-HIERAN, NEGEV DESERT, 29 March 2012 (IRIN Middle East) - Salim Abu al-Qi’an’s family live in Israel’s Negev desert in the “unrecognized” Bedouin village of Umm al-Hieran, 9km from the nearest source of clean water. full report

CLIMATE CHANGE: A three-degree warmer world by 2050?

 JOHANNESBURG, 27 March 2012 (IRIN Global) - The apocalyptic vision presented on cinema screens of a world devoid of food (Hunger Games) or with too much water (Waterworld) as a result of climate change, is not as far-fetched as some may think. full report

MADAGASCAR: Addressing toilet taboos to improve sanitation

 TAMATAVE, 23 March 2012 (IRIN Africa) - In Madagascar's east coast city of Tamatave, a local taboo against having a toilet in your house or on your land has complicated the task of trying to improve the region's dire sanitation situation. full report

PAKISTAN: Plea for help as landslides kill nine

 PESHAWAR, 22 March 2012 (IRIN Asia) - Heavy rain has triggered landslides in the autonomous territory of Gilgit-Baltistan and the Chitral District of Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa Province (KP) in northern Pakistan killing at least nine people, and affected villagers are calling for more assistance. full report

NIGER: Drought does not mean death of pastoralism

 DIFFA REGION, 22 March 2012 (IRIN Africa) - Having spent a fruitless day in search of pasture in the searing heat, about 20 worried and exhausted Fulani pastoralists from Niger near the southeastern edge of the Sahara lie under the stars and mull their future. The next rains and green pastures are still another four months away - or maybe not, mused one of them - “only Allah knows”. full report

GLOBAL: Joined-up thinking on water, energy and food

 JOHANNESBURG, 15 March 2012 (IRIN Global) - Africa’s third longest river, the Niger, is a source of water, food and energy for nine West African countries. But frequent droughts induced by a changing climate, and exacerbated by rapidly growing demand, pose a threat to water availability and livelihoods. full report

PAKISTAN: No road home for Sindh flood victims

 KARACHI, 12 March 2012 (IRIN Asia) - Ever since floods swept away dozens of homes and damaged many others in their village in the Sanghar District of Pakistan’s Sindh Province six months ago, Dinu Muhammad and his extended family of 10 have slept on thin pieces of cotton cloth spread out on a mud floor. full report

YEMEN: Arhab District returnees lack water for crops

 SANA'A, 6 March 2012 (IRIN Middle East) - Abdullah al-Marrani, his wife and nine children left the caves they were sheltering in in mid-February and returned home, but life is not much better in their village of Shaab in Arhab District, some 30km northeast of the Yemeni capital Sana’a. full report

In Brief: Avalanches kill 37 in Afghanistan

 KABUL, 6 March 2012 (IRIN Asia) - Avalanches killed 37 people and injured six in a remote part of the northeastern Afghan governorate of Badakshan on 5 March, according to Abdul Marouf Rasekh, a spokesperson for Badakhshan’s governor. full report

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