The Stream, August 25: Dams – China’s Ticking Time Bombs

Southern Weekend, one of China’s major investigative news agencies, reveals that hydropower dams throughout China “are like ticking time bombs”: beset by disaster, safety flaws, poor construction, neglect and fraud. Probe International discloses some of the never-before-reported findings in an English translation of the original Southern Weekend investigation.

Foreign Affairs analyzes how the international community can end the famine in Somalia, weaken the al Shabab insurgents and prepare for what comes next.

OnEarth talks with NRDC’s Theo Spencer about the Powder River Basin, the largest coal-producing region in the United States. Should the region be certified, and what would this mean for the environment and the economy?

A recent U.N. report said that Ogoniland — a polluted region within the vast, oil-rich Niger Delta in Nigeria — required the biggest oil clean-up in history, which could take 30 years and cost an initial $1 billion. Reuters warns of a potentially unpredictable blame game among the public, government and oil companies after the release of the study.

What is the role of public/private partnerships in addressing water risk? The Guardian Sustainable Business tackled the issue in an interactive online discussion.

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