Variability, Risks and Competing Uses blog posts

The Niger River Basin in arid West and Central Africa, home to more than 130 million people across nine countries, is in a buzz of development activity. 

June 20th is World Refugee Day. In Northern Uganda, South Sudanese refugees are living in settlements with insecure water supplies. How can effective water management help improve the uncertain lives and futures of refugee and host communities?

Originally posted on the Chicago Council on Global Affairs blog, this piece discusses the importance of monitoring and understanding river health.

As we mark World Water Day on March 22, researchers explore the complexity of sharing water resources across borders, sectors, and issues.

Using satellites to measure soil moisture isn't new, but a new mathematical algorithm is making this technology more accurate, and therefore better able to predict irregular conditions.

Despite wide spread land degradation that leads to decreased profits and uncertain livelihoods, a new study from IFPRI found that farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa are not adopting the mos profitable soil fertility management practices.

As climatic extremes intensify unpredictably across the planet, the links between agriculture and gender are growing stronger. As are technologies used to assess the damage. 

Rivers in Myanmar face a range of serious threats – unsustainable hydropower development, pollution, resource exploitation and ad hoc development. But there is one issue that may undergird them all: lack of access to data.

Will restoring or attempting to recreate the 'natural' flows of rivers downstream of large dams for the benefit of ecosystems actually help or hinder local communities? 

Investing in nature is just as important as the concrete and steel needed to build dams and reservoirs and contributes to the long-term resilience and sustainability of this infrastructure.

With growing populations and the worst food crisis since World War II, implementing the SDGs in a way that takes advantage of overlaps while accounting for conflicting interests is more important now than ever before.