About: water scarcity
Scientists look at triggering rainfall, saving water to tackle droughts
Over the past fifty years, droughts have become increasingly common in Europe. Climate change is not only reducing the amount of water available, but also affecting how clean it is, with floods bringing soil and other elements into the water supply chain.
An EU agenda for climate security
Responding to the unprecedented challenge posed by climate change will require all actors – including the defence and security community – to step outside their comfort zone, writes Luca Bergamaschi.
Morocco urges Brussels to end farm pact deadlock
Morocco’s Minister of Agriculture, Aziz Akhannouch, called on the EU to unblock a stalled farm trade agreement in order to help the country implement its sole national development strategy. EURACTIV.com reports from Morocco. VideoPromoted content
Water reuse: mitigating water scarcity
Europe needs to establish EU-wide common minimum quality standards for water reuse that protect both people’s health and the environment. Water operators are working with the European institutions and Member States to bring in water reuse legislation.
Report: Coal plants use as much water as 1 billion people and consumption set to double
Coal power plants use enough water to supply the needs of 1 billion people and that will almost double if all the world’s planned power plants come online.
Ethiopia makes progress on the Nile Dam project
By learning how to cooperate, Ethiopia may be one step closer to realising its dream of finishing construction on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, writes Stratfor, the global intelligence company.![Shipwrecks line the edge of what used to be the Aral Sea between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. A massive irrigation project reduced its size by 90% within 50 years. [neil banas/Flickr]](https://www.euractiv.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/08/3312451715-8cd6d03394-b.jpeg)
German economy vulnerable to global water scarcity, WWF warns
Water is scarce but it continues to be wasted excessively in many industrial states, warns a new study by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), predicting that a global conflict over water resources could bring billions in losses for the German market. EURACTIV Germany reports.![Bishow Parajuli, the World Food Programme's representative in Yemen, in the capital, Sana'a. [Fares Khoailed/WFP].](https://www.euractiv.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/07/bishow_parajuli_in_yemen._wfp_photo.jpeg)
UN official: Yemen could be ‘first country to run out of water’
Since the political crisis erupted in Yemen in 2011, the country has begun to move towards democracy. Many challenges remain in the country, wracked by civil unrest and widespread water and food insecurity, says Bishow Parajuli, the UN World Food Programme's representative in Yemen.![Yemenis receive food assistence in Sana'a. [Fares Khoailed/WFP].](https://www.euractiv.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/07/yemeni_people_food_assistence_fares_khoailed_wfp.jpeg)
Over half of Yemenis may need humanitarian aid, UN says
About 14.7 million people in Yemen may be in need of some form of humanitarian assistance, as outbreaks of violence continue, according to the United Nations. InfographicPromoted content
How climate change will affect global water scarcity by 2100
Global warming will affect the whole of the world's water supplies over the coming century, but it will not affect them equally. Hundreds of millions of people will experience new or aggravated forms of water scarcity by 2100.
INFOGRAPHIC: How climate change will affect global water scarcity by 2100
Global warming will affect the whole of the world's water supplies over the coming century, but it will not affect them equally. Hundreds of millions of people will experience new or aggravated forms of water scarcity by 2100.
Firms scramble to boost water-saving culture
From pet food manufacturing to wastewater treatment, companies show no lack of imagination when it comes to improving water efficiency at this year's annual Green Week event in Brussels.The water crisis is now
By 2025 half the world’s population will not have enough water to meet its needs, warns Rashad Kaldany, urging governments and the private sector to work on solutions, which he says, do exist. VideoPromoted content
World Water Day 2012 – Water Stewardship EURACTIV Workshop
Further to the 2007 European Commission's assessment of water scarcity and drought in the EU, the executive presented a set of policy options to increase water savings and to improve financing in existing sectoral policies. Five years later, the Commission is expected to table a 'Blueprint to Safeguard Europe's Water'. In advance of World Water Day 2012, Fondation EURACTIV is pleased to invite you to a roundtable debate to explore answers to these questions.
Water efficiency: Saving the blue gold
The European Commission is planning measures to rein in water use, with a particular focus on savings in agriculture, buildings and industrial processes.
US sees water scarcity as a ‘security issue’
Water scarcity has become a key global issue for the United States because of its potential to fuel armed conflicts in regions such as the Middle East or between nuclear rivals such as India and Pakistan.
Expert: Medicines pollute world waters
Europe's freshwaters are increasingly filled with pharmaceutical residues and other micro-pollutants, which are potentially harmful to human health and the environment, warns Friedrich Barth from the European Water Partnership (EWP), a research group.
Industry: Indicators underway for water-efficient agriculture
Large multinational food companies are currently looking at indicators farmers could use to show progress in saving water. Peter Erik Ywema of the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative, an industry platform, spoke to EURACTIV in an interview.
Food industry ponders water indicators in farming
Large multinational food companies are currently looking at indicators farmers could use to show progress in saving water. Peter Erik Ywema, from the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative, an industry platform, spoke to EURACTIV in an interview.
Electricity: The looming power struggle for water
Competition between electricity and water demand is climbing up Europe's agenda as climate change is set to further deplete freshwater supplies. Concerns are now being raised that EU renewable energy policies and electric cars could further exacerbate the problem.
‘Water footprint’ data to steer farming onto greener path
Precise data on water usage will soon help farmers and policymakers make better decisions on where to grow crops, says Derk Kuiper from the Water Footprint Network, a UN-backed organisation.
Expert: Water footprint key to sustainable agriculture
Precise data on water usage will soon help farmers and policymakers make better decisions on where to grow crops, says Derk Kuiper from the Water Footprint Network, a UN-backed organisation.
Future EU water blueprint to focus on savings
The European Commission will consider new measures to decrease water consumption in buildings, agriculture and other areas after a major review of current EU water legislation has been completed by 2012.