Center for a New American Security

• PR Newswire cites a poll that indicates that the Chinese people worry more about climate change and food and water security than traditional military threats.
• The United Nations renewed sanctions on the Congo preventing the export of minerals despite misgivings about their effectiveness, the Wall Street Journal reports.
• Uzbekistan withdrew from the Central Asian power grid citing energy security concerns, Xinhua reports.
• The U.S. Air Force has announced that they will abandon their efforts to drive the market of coal-to-liquid technology, according to the Guardian.
• According to The Washington Post, China and the United States are pressuring India to set commitments in advance of Copenhagen.

• A Scientific American article provides a nice summary of a new PNAS study, and the title says it all: “Can Climate Change Cause Conflict? Recent History Suggests So.”
• The DOD Energy Blog features an insider's account of the Marines Energy Assessment Team that researched USMC operational energy use in Afghanistan.
• Voice of America discusses last week's United Nations food summit as “disappointing,” claiming that it “produced only limited measures.”
• The Obama administration will soon present a range of U.S. emissions goals to take to Copenhagen, despite legislative deadlock over a climate bill, according to The New York Times; The Washington Post also reports increasing support for nuclear as a carbon-free energy solution.
• Green Inc. reports on McKinsey's new report that claims water demands will be 40–50% higher in 20 years.
• Finally, the Post's A1, top of the fold story yesterday explored Ethiopia's surge in leasing farmland to foreign companies and governments.

• The Wall Street Journal reports on the geopolitics surrounding the Nord Stream Pipeline and how Russia is purposefully excluding Central European states with Germany’s help.
• Food security is an increasingly important issue for political and military leaders, the Financial Times reports.
• The New York Times reports on the human costs of Haiti’s environmental degradation, specifically how deforestation has led to scores of deaths. Meanwhile, Scientific American explores the role of recycling in the stabilization of Haiti.
• The DoD Energy Blog gives a first person account of energy use by Marines in Afghanistan.  
• Green Inc. explores the possibility of using models of oil reserve management for extending water supplies.

Countries all over the world are beginning to feel the impacts of water security in its many forms. Yemen has become a prime example of what happens when water mismanagement, overpopulation, and an unlucky geographic location collide. Currently, poor farming practices (and the growing of qat, a cash crop, in particular) have substantially depleted the ground water reserves in Yemen. In fact The New York Times has characterized the problem as “a crisis that threatens the very survival of this arid, overpopulated country, and one that could prove deadlier than the better known resurgence of Al Qaeda here.” The interplay between the falling water supply and insurgency has created a truly tenuous situation.

• Egypt and Sudan are in tense negotiations with other Nile nations over water rights and water security, according to Xinhua.
• An abundant supply of natural gas will likely drive down prices and reduce Russia's ability to blackmail its customers, according to The Financial Times. FT also reports on one gas industry spokesman's insistence that climate change action and energy security are linked.
• Green Inc. reports that economists overwhelmingly agree that climate change poses threats to the economy of the United States—which naturally affects U.S. security as well.
• When President Obama visits next week, Japan will not have reached a decision on moving the U.S. military base on Okinawa, according to Stars and Stripes. As we have noted before, this base closure issue is partly about environmental concerns.
• The Iraqi government has awarded the West Qurna-1 oil field to a consortium led by Exxon Mobile and Royal Dutch Shell and is seen as another crucial step for Iraq in opening up its oil fields to international companies, The Wall Street Journal reports.

• The New York Times reported on Yemen's water crisis yesterday, calling it "a crisis that...could prove deadlier than the better known resurgence of Al Qaeda here."
• CNET covers an MIT symposium on climate geoengineering.
• A new storm battered the Philippines last weekend; the BBC examines the mounting damages natural disasters have taken on the islands. Meanwhile, the storm has forced more than 80,000 Vietnamese to evacuate, the Associated Press reports. 
• The New York Times reports on gas price protests in the Philippines and the government’s attempts to force companies to lower them following the recent storms. 
• India is considering linking its rivers, The Daily Star and Hindustan Times report, but concerns about ecological damage are forcing caution on the projects.

• The Obama administration announced yesterday that the federal government would spend $3.4 billion in grants to bolster America’s energy infrastrcuture, providing for “smart” power grids, digital transformers, and other improvements to make transmission lines more efficient, the Washington Post reports.
• The BBC features a story about Kyrgyzstan's melting glaciers, which are causing Central Asian reservoirs to overflow and have “created tension between countries in the region.”
• The BBC also reports that Gaza's only source of fresh water is in serious danger of sewage contamination and overuse, which does not bode well for this impoverished and conflict-ridden area.
• The Washington Post reports on a new study claiming that a warming planet could mean more disease, heat waves, and natural disasters, which could lead to malnutrition and pulmonary disease.
• Alternative Energy reports on the International Air Transport Association's efforts to use biofuels in commercial planes by the end of 2010.

• The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) has finally been funded and it is now awarding grants for “transformative” ideas in energy security, CNET News and Popular Science report. Wired Science also presents a great visual for how ARPA-E is dividing up its grants.
• The EU Observer and Reuters report on a joint energy council that will be set up at the cabinet or ministerial level between the United States and the European Union in order to share technology and discuss energy security.
• MNF-Iraq reports that a massive water treatment and distribution plant has been completed in Sadr City providing water for almost two million people.
• Japanese-owned Toshiba has made a deal with a uranium mine in Kazakhstan to mine rare earth elements, the Financial Times reports.
• The New York Times Green Inc. blog reports that water use will intensify in the American Southwest as more solar projects come online.

The Washington Post profiles China's efforts at renewable energy research, including the use of algae fuels and solar panels.

DoD and private corporations are testing the use of nanotechnology to clean up toxic waste disasters, according to The New York Times.

The Wall Street Journal reports on the imminent climate bill action by the Senate's Committee for Environment and Public Works.

The hydropower industry is preparing for short-term opportunities in a "glacier-free future," Reuters reports.

The Boston Herald carried President Obama's remarks to an audience at MIT, during which he noted, “The Pentagon has declared our dependence on fossil fuels a security threat.” The New York Times reported on his remarks, as well.

• The Ghana News Agency reports on their water minister’s concern over sharing the Volta River with Burkina Faso. Meanwhile, an op-ed in The Hindu showcases the worries neighboring countries have over water sharing and how renewable energy sources can have unintended consequences in other areas.
• CNN reports that the Nigerian government’s aggressive pursuit of peace with rebel factions is angled at bringing oil deals with China to their country.
• According to Green Inc., Shell has been granted the rights to drill off of Alaska’s shore.
• Providing water and power to villagers in Iraq has been the focus of multiple military projects in Iraq, OIF reports.
• BBC reports on China’s plan to move 330,000 people to divert water resources.