International PEACE Projects

IPP is delighted to support the Lily Project’s critical work for women of Nicaragua. Our office/home in Granada is utilized by the Lily Project and our farm on Mombaccho is a learning center for value-added farm products.

What do Lily and The Lorax have in common? Dear Friends,  Exactly six years ago the three of us were immersed in a process of “test & learn” to ensure our grass-roots model would support Lily’s mission to create healthier futures for women and girls in Nicaragua. Well, with COVID upending so much in our world, we are at it again!  Th...

They shut his water off over an unpaid bill – and then a fire broke out Shut-offs are one of the worst impacts of America’s water poverty crisis. Can Baltimore show another way?

Oh no, please. It is back.

Daniel Ortega ANUNCIA que EL CANAL INTEROCEÁNICO SIGUE EN PIE El pasado 14 de junio se venció el proyecto del Gran Canal Interoceánico promovido por Ortega y concedido al empresario chino Wang Jing. La Ley de Concesión ...

From the N.Y. Times today:

Countries that are home to one-fourth of Earth’s population face an increasingly urgent risk: The prospect of running out of water.

From India to Iran to Botswana, 17 countries around the world are currently under extremely high water stress, meaning they are using almost all the water they have, according to new World Resources Institute data published Tuesday.

Many are arid countries to begin with; some are squandering what water they have. Several are relying too heavily on groundwater, which instead they should be replenishing and saving for times of drought.

In those countries are several big, thirsty cities that have faced acute shortages recently, including São Paulo, Brazil; Chennai, India; and Cape Town, which in 2018 narrowly beat what it called Day Zero — the day when all its dams would be dry.

Water Stress Levels of Urban Areas with Population Bigger than 3 Million
More than a third of major urban areas with more than 3 million people are under high or extremely high water stress.

0
10
20
30 million
Low
Low to medium
Medium to high
High
Extremely high
Mexico City
Chennai
São Paulo
Tokyo
New York
Note: Urban populations based on the U.N.’s World Urbanization Prospects 2018.
“We’re likely to see more of these Day Zeros in the future,” said Betsy Otto, who directs the global water program at the World Resources Institute. “The picture is alarming in many places around the world.”

Climate change heightens the risk. As rainfall becomes more erratic, the water supply becomes less reliable. At the same time, as the days grow hotter, more water evaporates from reservoirs just as demand for water increases.

Water-stressed places are sometimes cursed by two extremes. São Paulo was ravaged by floods a year after its taps nearly ran dry. Chennai suffered fatal floods four years ago, and now its reservoirs are almost empty.

Groundwater is going fast

Mexico’s capital, Mexico City, is drawing groundwater so fast that the city is literally sinking. Dhaka, Bangladesh, relies so heavily on its groundwater for both its residents and its water-guzzling garment factories that it now draws water from aquifers hundreds of feet deep. Chennai’s thirsty residents, accustomed to relying on groundwater for years, are now finding there’s none left. Across India and Pakistan, farmers are draining aquifers to grow water-intensive crops like cotton and rice.

Groundwater table decline
0
2 cm
4 cm
6 cm
8 cm/year
Chicago
Beijing
Cairo
Dhaka
Mexico City
No data
More stress in the forecast

Today, among cities with more than 3 million people, World Resources Institute researchers concluded that 33 of them, with a combined population of over 255 million, face extremely high water stress, with repercussions for public health and social unrest.

By 2030, the number of cities in the extremely high stress category is expected to rise to 45 and include nearly 470 million people.

World Water Stress Projection
Extremely high High Medium to high Low to medium Low No data

How to fix the problem?

The stakes are high for water-stressed places. When a city or a country is using nearly all the water available, a bad drought can be catastrophic.

After a three-year drought, Cape Town in 2018 was forced to take extraordinary measures to ration what little it had left in its reservoirs. That acute crisis only magnified a chronic challenge. Cape Town’s 4 million residents are competing with farmers for limited water resources.

Likewise, Los Angeles. Its most recent drought ended this year. But its water supply isn’t keeping pace with its galloping demand and its penchant for private backyard swimming pools doesn’t help.

For Bangalore, a couple of years of paltry rains revealed how badly the city has managed its water. The many lakes that once dotted the city and its surrounding areas have either been built-over or filled with the city’s waste. They can no longer be the rainwater storage tanks they once were. And so the city must venture further and further away to draw water for its 8.4 million residents, and much of it is wasted along the way.

A lot can be done to improve water management, though.

First, city officials can plug leaks in the water distribution system. Wastewater can be recycled. Rain can be harvested and saved for lean times: lakes and wetlands can be cleaned up and old wells can be restored. And, farmers can switch from water-intensive crops, like rice, and instead grow less-thirsty crops like millet.

“Water is a local problem and it needs local solutions,” said Priyanka Jamwal, a fellow at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment in Bangalore.

Sources: World Resources Institute; United Nations

‘We read the daily ‘dread-mail’ about the precarious nature of our planet due to impacts of climate change on the seas, the poles, insect pollinators and the species that evolved in intricate harmony over a billion years. So little news gives a human face to the suffering created by climate change. My colleague Jane Kay-Bailey is on the ground in Zambia where years of successive drought have exhausted seed stocks and food supplies. I know the families that are experiencing hunger and loss day to day. What can we do to mitigate their pain? 1) Continue to raise our voices against the forces that excite climate change - extraction industries, manufacturers and politicians who enable them. 2) divest of stocks that feed the climate changers 3) practice climate consciousness daily-in every decision we make 4) contribute to IPP so that we can expand our well drilling programs in Zambia.,
Does one borehole-well matter in the face of a global catastrophe? Yes it does! Every action we take against climate change and the repercussions of it on the planet and people-financially, personally, locally and globally matters. To be complacent is the allow hopelessness to overwhelm us. Acting gives us hope and faith that what we do will relieves the pain our Zambian neighbors feel now.”

‘We read the daily ‘dread-mail’ about the precarious nature of our planet due to impacts of climate change on the seas, the poles, insect pollinators and the species that evolved in intricate harmony over a billion years. So little news gives a human face to the suffering created by climate change. My colleague Jane Kay-Bailey is on the ground in Zambia where years of successive drought have exhausted seed stocks and food supplies. I know the families that are experiencing hunger and loss day to day. What can we do to mitigate their pain? 1) Continue to raise our voices against the forces that excite climate change - extraction industries, manufacturers and politicians who enable them. 2) divest of stocks that feed the climate changers 3) practice climate consciousness daily-in every decision we make 4) contribute to IPP so that we can expand our well drilling programs in Zambia.,
Does one borehole-well matter in the face of a global catastrophe? Yes it does! Every action we take against climate change and the repercussions of it on the planet and people-financially, personally, locally and globally matters. To be complacent is the allow hopelessness to overwhelm us. Acting gives us hope and faith that what we do will relieves the pain our Zambian neighbors feel ‘We read the daily ‘dread-mail’ about the precarious nature of our planet due to impacts of climate change on the seas, the poles, insect pollinators and the species that evolved in intricate harmony over a billion years. So little news gives a human face to the suffering created by climate change. My colleague Jane Kay-Bailey is on the ground in Zambia where years of successive drought have exhausted seed stocks and food supplies. I know the families that are experiencing hunger and loss day to day. What can we do to mitigate their pain? 1) Continue to raise our voices against the forces that excite climate change - extraction industries, manufacturers and politicians who enable them. 2) divest of stocks that feed the climate changers 3) practice climate consciousness daily-in every decision we make 4) contribute to IPP (visit International PEACE Projects.org) so that we can expand our well drilling programs in Zambia.,
Does one borehole-well matter in the face of a global catastrophe? Yes it does! Every action we take against climate change and the repercussions of it on the planet and people-financially, personally, locally and globally matters. To be complacent is the allow hopelessness to overwhelm us. Acting gives us hope and faith that what we do will relieves the pain our Zambian neighbors feel.