Last week’s Ceres conference included a panel on water scarcity and risk. The term “peak water” was mentioned, framing water as a commodity facing a peak in availability (like oil) and a potentially tradable value, similar to carbon.
Panelists identified water scarcity as a human rights and community issue as much as an environmental issue. Chris Williams of the World Wildlife Fund reported that over 1 billion people globally have no access to safe drinking water.
Meanwhile, water demand and consumption has increased in the private sector for manufacturing, energy production, and agriculture. A significant amount of the water consumed is wasted through agricultural runoff, leaks, and weak or nonexistent conservation and efficiency programs.
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As we look back at the genocide and military conflict in Darfur, Sudan during 2007, the Sudan divestment movement in the U.S. has largely succeeded in bringing increased pressure on financial firms and companies involved in Sudan to sever their financial ties to the Government of Sudan.
A few of the many divestment-related news stories from the past year are highlighted below:
Institutional investors in Petrochina, a Chinese oil company with significant oil exploration projects in Sudan, faced shareholder pressure to divest from the company. Save Darfur, a U.S.-based advocacy group launched a campaign targeting Berkshire Hathaway, Fidelity, and Franklin Templeton, three of the largest investors in Petrochina.
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In September, Burma was on the front pages of global media, the result of the Burmese military junta’s violent crackdown on the peaceful, pro-democracy protests spearheaded by Buddhist monks. Images of soldiers bludgeoning protesters, in one case shooting a Japanese photographer at close range (he later died), held the world’s attention for a number of days.
As of December, the story continued to unfold, mostly without the benefit of front-page coverage, as the media had moved on to other issues. The BBC reported that the UN had confirmed at least 31 deaths in the crackdown.
Later in the month Congress passed a bill aiming to tighten sanctions against Burma. The legislation is meant to close loopholes that allow Burmese gems to be imported through third countries, as well as those that provide the junta access to US banks to launder money in third countries.
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