The Stream, October 23: 500,000 People Endangered by Honduras Drought

Water & Food
Central America, Africa, Pacific

More than half a million people in Honduras and 3 million people in Central America are facing hunger due to a drought that has destroyed crops and caused food prices to spike, according to the Red Cross, Reuters reported. The conditions are forcing more people to migrate or sell assets like livestock.

Climate change presents an opportunity for Africa to embrace innovative agricultural and industrial technologies that save energy and water, Inter Press Service reported. Agriculture, in particular, should be targeted for sustainable development as it employs more than 70 percent of Africa’s population, according to United Nations experts.

In an effort to improve food security and nutrition, Timor-Leste and New Zealand are working together on a $US 4 million project to increase aquaculture production, FIS reported. Timor-Leste hopes to increase per capita fish consumption from 6 kilograms to 15 kilograms by 2020.

Water Infrastructure
Asia, Middle East, South America

Despite two previous rejections, India recently approved the 3,000-megawatt Dibang dam, which will be the largest in the country, the Guardian reported. The dam faces stiff opposition from local communities concerned about the 4,3000 hectares of forest its reservoir will submerge in Arunachal Pradesh state.

The largest desalination project in Iraq was recently expanded to include pre-treatment facilities, expected to greatly improve the quality of drinking water in the city of Basra, Bloomberg News reported. The desalination plant will have the capacity to provide 199,000 cubic meters of treated water each day, and will be completed in 2017.

Water prices in rural interior regions of Peru are as much as 25 times more than those in Lima, Peru This Week reported. A lack of investment in water supply and water treatment infrastructure has led to poor water service and high prices, according to officials.

Pollution
North America

There are at least 46,000 abandoned mines in the United States and may be as many as half a million, all potential sources of water and soil pollution, the Center for Investigative Reporting found. Heavy rains in Arizona, for example, recently washed old mine sludge into state park waterways.

Conservation
Europe

An estimated 2 million birds migrating through wetlands along the shores of the Adriatic Sea are shot by illegal hunters each year, Yale Environment 360 reported. Some of the most important wetlands, in Albania’s Buna Delta, are being overrun by poachers despite national and international legal protections.

Codi Kozacek

A news correspondent for Circle of Blue based out of Hawaii. She writes The Stream, Circle of Blue’s daily digest of international water news trends. Her interests include food security, ecology and the Great Lakes.
Contact Codi Kozacek