Archive for 'water & sanitation'
I couldn’t resist posting this picture of the snow that is currently covering the UK, marking a cold start to what promises to be an exciting year. 2013 is the year in which the UK will achieve its commitment to spend 0.7% of the UK’s Gross National Income on development aid. There has been a [...]
Earlier this month, the UN Secretary General announced that two billion people have gained access to safe drinking water in the last 20 years, and that the Millennium Development Goal target on water had been achieved five years early. The Secretary of State for International Development, Andrew Mitchell, described this achievement as "concrete proof that [...]
People from every corner of the globe will come together online today as part of Blog Action Day. This digital gathering (which also marks World Food Day) will raise the alarm on the ongoing food crisis in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia – the worst in a generation. Right now, across the Horn of Africa, millions [...]
Last week I left Afghanistan for good. When I said goodbye to our local staff member in Helmand he asked "will we see you again in Helmand Province?" "Probably not," I replied. After making Afghanistan my home for the last 2 years, leaving isn't easy. But as I say my goodbyes and pack my bags [...]
As most people who have ever watched Comic Relief will know, I’ve been to Africa many times before. I’ve reported on the destruction wreaked by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, on drought, on famine, on kids forced to live on the streets and the devastation that conflict inevitably leaves in its wake. Right from the off though [...]
Hello from Kinshasa – or, I should say, mboté or perhaps bonjour! I have just moved to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to take up my new post as Infrastructure and Environment Adviser. I have a fascinating and challenging three years ahead of me. DRC, a country of 67 million people, is 168th out of [...]
A Blog Action Day on water – how can I not write something? My career started in water resource and wastewater management in Johannesburg (I won’t say how many years ago!). I also came across the following quotes in an article I read last week which I thought would be good for this blog. ‘If [...]
I love a good cause, and the theme of Blog Action Day today is about as good as they get: water. Water is a hugely important issue globally and particularly for developing countries such as Mozambique where shortages of clean water are a daily problem, and yet where floods also bring devastation and disease. I [...]
I could probably count on one hand the number of times I have seen a river in Afghanistan. The streets in Kabul are dusty and most of the year it doesn’t look like the city has seen a drop of rain. But the market is full of ripe fruit and vegetables. Pomegranates are in season [...]
Indians are used to coping with the effects of a variable climate. So many of these effects are related to the availability and quality of water – for agriculture, domestic consumption, industry, power generation and other uses – that water is viewed by many experts as the most important source of vulnerability to climate change. [...]
