Entries by Nadya Ivanova

The Stream, May 27: The Global Food Market

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The dire drought in central and southern China may hit the grain output in major food growing regions and put upward pressure on global prices, but China’s domestic wheat stocks will keep food imports low, according to a Reuters analysis. Read Circle of Blue’s report on China’s looming water-energy-food collision. Agriculture Yet, the World Meteorological […]

The Stream, May 26: The La Nina Factor

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The La Nina weather pattern may be playing a part in the surge of U.S. tornadoes this spring, Reuters reports. But experts said it was uncertain if climate change is responsible for the high number of natural disasters. Energy The Swiss government has decided to phase out all of the country’s five nuclear power plans, […]

The Stream, May 25: Go-ahead for UK Shale Gas

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China is bracing for what might be the worst summer power crunch in recent years, according to Reuters. Electricity supplies to industrial users will be curbed in the summer, as power deficits are expected to reach 30 gigawatts even if coal supplies are steady, water levels are normal and there are no persisting high temperatures. […]

The Stream, May 24: Water Business

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IPS interviews Chilean environmentalist Sara Larraín about Patagonia’s controversial HidroAysén hydropower project, Chile’s environmental institutionality and the role of citizen participation. Who wins when pristine rivers clash with hydropower prospects? Read Circle of Blue’s coverage of Patagonia. Business Chinadialogue looks at the China Green Companies Top 100 for 2011. Which are China’s most environmentally friendly […]

The Stream, May 23: Water and the Middle East

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President Barack Obama’s speech on the Middle East last week focused on the issues of borders and security, but made no mention of other core issues such as settlements, water and refugees, Egypt’s ambassador to the United Nations told Bloomberg. Revisit Circle of Blue’s coverage of the drought in the West Bank. Over the weekend, […]

The Stream, May 20: Fighting For Land And Water

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Tensions over illegal farmland seizures are turning into violent clashes in China’s Hebei Province, where villagers are driven off land to open up space for new factories and residential housing, the Guardian reports. Are land requisitions, industrialization and desertification signaling a threat for China’s food security, and who’s going to win the competition for land […]

The Stream, May 19: Arctic Waters

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A leaked draft of the official strategy for the Arctic reveals that Denmark plans to make a formal claim for the territorial rights for the North Pole before the UN deadline in 2014. But Denmark is not the only country with an appetite for the Arctic. Following the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, Japanese […]

The Stream, May 18: Toxic Food

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Cadmium in rice, melamine in milk, arsenic in soy sauce, bleach in mushrooms, and the detergent borax in pork. China’s food industry has recently become synonymous with contamination, bad farming practices and overuse of agricultural chemicals. The Guardian‘s Jonathan Watts reports on China’s latest food scandal, after fields of watermelons in the eastern part of […]

The Stream, May 17: Energy for Europe

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A five-month drought has gripped China’s Hubei Province at the source of the central line of the South-North Water Transfer Project, UPI reports. Read more about the project on Circle of Blue. Although the prolonged dry spell in France this spring has not affected the country’s nuclear power output, Electricite de France SA — Europe’s […]

The Stream, May 16: Droughts and Floods

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A dire drought is forcing France to set severe restrictions on farmers’ water use in 26 of the country’s 96 departmental administrative areas, Bloomberg reports. The American South is on the opposite side of the spectrum. The opening of a major spillway to relieve flooding along the Mississippi River will channel floodwaters toward homes, farms, […]

The Stream, May 13: The Battle for the Arctic

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Secret U.S. embassy cables released by Wikileaks reveal that several states, including the United States and Russia, are actively hunting for natural resources in the Arctic, the BBC reports. The world must scale down its use of natural resources in order to avoid a ruinous shortage of raw materials in the next decades, a new […]

The Stream, May 12: Agriculture vs. Industry

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Though a recent study points to Europe’s abundant shale gas reserves, the government of France is increasingly likely to ban shale gas exploration in the wake of growing domestic opposition to the technique, the Financial Times reports. The Danube River, one of Europe’s major waterways, has dropped to a 100-year low in Austria, forcing shippers […]