World water day is 22 March – whet your appetite for water news
Those of us next to Lake Geneva are among the world's lucky, with easy access to pentiful water supplies
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Today is World Water Day, declared by the United Nations, and we’re taking a moment out to think about what is historically one of humanity’s greatest problems and where we are with solving it.
In a nutshell, here’s what we “drink”, according to the UN: “There are 7 billion people to feed on the planet today and another 2 billion are expected to join by 2050.
“Statistics say that each of us drinks from 2 to 4 litres of water every day, however most of the water we ‘drink’ is embedded in the food we eat: producing 1 kilo of beef for example consumes 15,000 litres of water while 1 kilo of wheat ’drinks up’ 1,500 litres.”
Geneva, International Rainwater Harvesting Alliance: Before reading about the many problems linked to water where solutions are not in place, look at the wonderful collection of photos from the International Rainwater Harvesting Alliance, from its 2011 global photo contest. The Alliance, based in Geneva, brings together the many groups who are working to ease water shortages by harvesting rainwater, as part of sustainability programmes.
Switzerland: Palestinian refugees in seven camps in Lebanon are receving $2.62 million over two years for a remediation and upgrading of camp water supplies project, a cooperative effort between the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The project began at the end of December 2011.
It is designed to “ensure healthier lives for Palestine refugees by preventing and controlling diseases by providing access to safe drinking water. In addition, SDC will provide UNRWA with three Swiss technical experts for the project,” according to UNRWA.
West Bank:The UN News Centre 19 March published the results of a survey that show significant problems with access to water for West Bank Palestinians, as Israeli settlers move in nearby. “Palestinians have increasingly lost access to water sources in the West Bank as a result of the takeover of springs by Israeli settlers, who have used threats, intimidation and fences to ensure control of water points close to the settlements, according to a new United Nations survey released today.
“Thirty of the springs were found to be under full settler control, with no Palestinian access to the area, according to the survey carried by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) over the course of last year.”
Africa, Yemen: Africa’s continual problem of water shortages and frequent droughts is hugely compounded by fighting in conflict zones. The International Displacement Monitoring Centre in Geneva 21 March issued a statement about the situation in Yemen: ”
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – The US intelligence company Stratfor has reportedly admitted that it was the target of an attack by the Internet pirate group Anonymous, with credit card and personal data of some 90,000 people who work for its clients affected. Among them: the Swiss foreign affairs department, several multinationals and banks.
The Stratfor site was down Monday and Tuesday 26-27 December for maintenance.
The news was broken in Switzerland by DSR, Swiss-German radio, which based its information on files of several thousand pages, a link to which was published on Twitter by Anonymous.
Swiss trade surplus grew, investment income fell
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland’s net investment earnings are negative for the first time since the Swiss National Bank (SNB) began compiling statistics in 1947, ironically, as a record trade surplus was posted for 2008. Losses from Swiss banks’ foreign subsidiaries caused 2008 income from direct investment abroad to fall sharply, from CHF60 to 8 billion. Meanwhile, the trade surplus for 2008 widened by CHF5b to CHF19b, as exports grew and imports fell. The impact of the global economic crisis affected trade figures only in the fourth quarter, after three quarters of strong growth.
Net investment earnings show the earnings from Swiss investments abroad, minus payments to foreigners on their investments in Switzerland. This is historically a large surplus because of the earnings of Swiss multinationals, including banks. Their earnings have been declining, but the bailout solutions for bank UBS meant yet more money flowed out of Switzerland.
