22 Nov 2023

Harare declares emergency amid cholera outbreak

The city of Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, declared a state of emergency on the 17th of November following an outbreak of cholera in the city in which 123 cases and 12 fatalities...

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International Water Law and Transboundary Water Cooperation

15 Nov 2023

UNICEF’s 2023 Children’s Climate Risk Supplement released ahead of COP 28

UNICEF has released a 2023 supplement to its 2021 Children’s Climate Risk Index (CCRI) report ahead of COP 28 – the United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties, which will ...

25 Oct 2023

Guinea rejoins Mali, Mauritania and Senegal to jointly govern the Senegal River

Guinea has announced its intention to rejoin the Organisation pour la Mise en Valeur du Fleuve Senegal (OMVS) in October, reversing a decision taken by the government to withdraw f...

9 Nov 2023

Farmers protest against Mexico’s intended release of Rio Grande water to United States

Farmers in Chihuahua State in Mexico have approached the government to reserve water for irrigation rather than releasing it in order to comply with a treaty obligation to share wa...

25 Oct 2023

World Food Day

World Food Day, observed annually on the 16th of October, is dedicated to raising awareness on global hunger and to stimulating collective action around food production and food se...

9 Oct 2023

AGWA

Tobias Schmitz: I wanted to have a discussion with you about the role of water in the upcoming COP 28. I believe that the host country, the United Arab Emirates, has identified thr...

28 Sep 2023

Canal being filled in

On the 11th of September the President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader suspended visas for Haitians and threatened to close the border between the two countries following ...

4 Sep 2023

Nuclear power plant at Bugey in France

The Rhône River, which originates in the Swiss Alps upstream of Lake Leman (colloquially: Lake Geneva), has again become the subject of negotiations between Switzerland and France ...

10 Oct 2023

Second round of talks between Egypt Ethiopia and Sudan on Grand Renaissance Dam inconclusive

On the 23rd of September Ethiopia announced that it had commenced a second round of trilateral negotiations between Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam...

10 Oct 2023

UN Special Rapporteur focuses on water and ecosystems at 54th session of Human Rights Council

"In a world often referred to as the 'blue planet,' it remains astounding that approximately 2 billion people still lack guaranteed access to safe drinking water," the Special Rapp...

Water in Armed Conflict and other situations of violence

12 Oct 2023

Water crisis in Gaza as supplies run critically low

Through a report shared with the Global Observatory on Water and Peace, The Water Diplomat has been made aware of the daily struggle for water that the citizens of Gaza experience ...

30 Oct 2023

Water Integrity Network initiates petition to stop weaponization of water

On October 20th, the Water Integrity Network initiated a petition to the United Nations through change.org to stop the weaponization of water in all forms of conflict. The ‘weaponi...

19 Oct 2023

destroyed infrastructure in Ukraine

In an article published in late September in Earth’s Future , researchers Peter Gleick, Viktor Vyshnevskyi and Serhii Shevchuk provide an overview of the consequences of the Russia...

28 Sep 2023

Canal being filled in

On the 11th of September the President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader suspended visas for Haitians and threatened to close the border between the two countries following ...

18 Sep 2023

Damage caused by flooding in Derna, Libya

Libyans, divided and ruled by two rival governments since 2014, have united briefly in response to the disaster caused by storm Daniel in early September. The storm produced 8 mont...

7 Sep 2023

Sudan Update: The Water Diplomat Speaks to Action Against Hunger

Tobias Schmitz: From your perspective, what is the current status of the conflict and which areas are currently affected: has this changed geographically since mid-May? Paloma ...

Knowledge Based, Data-Driven Decision Making

10 Nov 2023

published with permission from WWF

Released on World Food Day, the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) report entitled “The High Cost of Cheap Water” estimates the annual use value of water to the global economy at U.S. $ 5...

10 Nov 2023

Improving water management for rural development within the 2030 Agenda

Three-quarters of the world's poorest people live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihoods as well as on access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene...

3 Nov 2023

New Study points to irreversible melt of West Antarctic Ice Sheet

A study published in Nature Climate Change has come to the conclusion that the future melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) in the 21st century is unavoidable even if gree...

1 Nov 2023

Study shows that human activity is disrupting the natural salt content of freshwater

A study published by Nature Reviews Earth and Environment has shown that increasing salt production is contributing to the ‘freshwater salinization syndrome’: scientists are observ...

10 Oct 2023

Global urban growth in high flood risk areas outpaces settlement in safe areas

In an article published in the journal Nature this month, researchers have noted that human settlements are expanding into hazardous flood zones faster than in safe areas. The rese...

12 Sep 2023

Water utilities request transparency over discharge permits as Meuse River quality deteriorates

The quality of the Maas / Meuse River, shared by France, Belgium and the Netherlands has deteriorated further due to the discharge of harmful chemicals. Over the past year, concent...

10 Oct 2023

IAEA monitors discharge from the Fukushima nuclear power plant

The International Atomic Energy Agency is playing a key role internationally in monitoring and sharing the data related to the release of pre-treated water from storage facilities ...

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Finance for water cooperation

20 Oct 2023

Dutch Blue Bond is the latest in a trend in sustainable water investments

On the 17th of October, the Netherlands announced that it had taken out a ‘blue bond’ worth € 5 billion which will go towards efforts to mitigate flood risks. The government had ho...

17 Oct 2023

EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting to become mandatory in fiscal year 2024

The reporting of non-financial information (information on environmental, social and governance impacts) is to become mandatory in the European Union for large, listed companies in...

10 Oct 2023

Urban Water Catalyst Initiative about to commence implementation

The Urban Water Catalyst Initiative (UWCI), an initiative announced at the UN 2023 Water Conference in New York in March this year, is on the point of supporting its first utilitie...

10 Oct 2023

Challenges plague the UK's privatized water industry

The United Kingdom, known for its ample rainfall, is grappling with a water crisis that threatens its essential water supply services. Multiple articles highlight the precarious st...

10 Oct 2023

ADB to Invest $200 Million in Flood and Riverbank Erosion Risk Management in Assam India

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a U.S. $200 million loan for flood and riverbank erosion risk management in Assam, India, along the main channel of the Brahmaputra Ri...

National and Local News

22 Nov 2023

Unprotected water source

The city of Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, declared a state of emergency on the 17th of November following an outbreak of cholera in the city in which 123 cases and 12 fatalities...

23 Nov 2023

Floods in Somalia

Somali Disaster Management Agency director Mohamud Moalim Abdullahi announced on the 20th of November that 50 people have been killed and 687,235 people have been internally displa...

9 Nov 2023

Mississippi River drops to historic low, affecting water supplies and trade

The Mississippi River is experiencing historical levels of drought for the second year in a row, with water levels at a record low of 3.5 metres below average at Memphis on the 10t...

6 Nov 2023

Nigeria Approaches its Open Defecation Free Target Date

In a blog in Nigeria Health Watch , arguments have been presented proposing ways to accelerate access to sanitation in the country. These include the need for more active involveme...

2 Nov 2023

Qatar Charity and UNOCHA to provide water and sanitation to displaced Yemenis

In October, Qatar Charity signed an agreement with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Yemen to provide water and sanitation services...

2 Oct 2023

Cauvery Water Authority orders Karnataka to release water for Tamil Nadu

On the 27th of September the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) ordered the State of Karnataka to release 85 m³ of water per second to downstream Tamil Nadu for 18 days, sta...

10 Oct 2023

China: more floods and fears for food security

Flooding hit southern China again in September. On September 8, heavy rains hit Hong Kong and southern China. Over 600 mm of rain fell overnight, representing a quarter of the city...