CORRUPTION: Graft Sapping Precious Water Resources

The world's growing water crisis - with nearly 1.2 billion people lacking a steady water supply and more than 2.6 billion without adequate sanitation - is fundamentally a crisis of governance, with corruption as one root cause, says a new report by Transparency International.

DEVELOPMENT-ANGOLA: Stressing the Importance of Clean Water

A survey of Angolan households has revealed less than half of caregivers always treat water with a reliable method before giving it to children. And one third of those interviewed by Population Services International (PSI) believes water is blessed by God and does not need to be sterilised before use.

DEVELOPMENT-ANGOLA: Absorbing Lessons on Clean Water

Playing happily in the sand with her twin sister, it's hard to believe Vivia Paulino was only months ago on the brink of death.

ENVIRONMENT-US: "Water Is Alive, It Hears Our Words"

Native Americans and others completed a 10-day "Walk for the Water" this week along the Chattahoochee River, which some estimates say will dry up completely by 2025 due to pressure from the rapidly growing city of Atlanta.

US/MEXICO: Neighbours Try to Reclaim Polluted Valley

A sinuous coil of murky water winds through the Tijuana River Valley. On each side of the U.S.-Mexican border, residents eye each other warily, caught in the cross-currents of political intrigue and economic polices that make the floodplain seem almost orderly by comparison.

DEVELOPMENT: Blessed and Cursed by Water

Millions of people are threatened by poor, unreliable, or non-existent water resources, and climate change could make things worse. IPS looked at some of the issues before participants at a World Bank conference on water and sanitation issues held in Oslo last week.

Q&A: Malawian Aquaculture Initiative Gives Cause for Quiet Hope

From time immemorial, fishermen on Lake Malawi have depended on the chambo to help feed their families - all without upsetting the stocks of this fish species. Following the start of commercial fishing on the lake, however, the annual catch of chambo plunged, from 3,250 tonnes in 1985 to 207 tonnes in 2002.

DEVELOPMENT-BOTSWANA: Of Tourists, Bushmen – and a Borehole

A planned lodge development at the settlement of Molapo in Botswana's Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) has become a source of controversy.

TANZANIA: Running Water Remains a Pipe Dream for Many

Juma Membe is a doorstep salesman with a commodity no one in his poor Dar es Salaam neighbourhood can refuse. Every inch of space in his handcart is occupied with canary yellow jerry cans of safe drinking water ready for home delivery.

Q&A: "We Are Certainly Making Progress, But It's Slow"

When it comes to getting water supplies in Dar es Salaam, it's too expensive to be poor.

HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Suffer the Little Children

Located high in the Drakensburg Mountains of the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa, Sterkspruit is a picturesque rural area that includes several tribal villages. In the midst of this natural beauty, however, a tragedy has been unfolding over recent months.

DEVELOPMENT: Food Security Requires New Approach to Water

The ongoing food crisis, characterised by growing shortages and rising prices of staple commodities, has far reaching implications for the world's scarce water resources, says a new study released here.

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Water "Undervalued and Not Treated With Respect"

A two-day conference on water issues in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which opened Wednesday in Maseru, Lesotho, has seen representatives of government, civil society, the private sector, donors and other groups discuss the likely effects of climate change on development in the region.

DEVELOPMENT-ZAMBIA: Counting the Cost of Recent Floods

Samson Mwenda, a farmer from Namwala in Zambia’s Southern Province, recalls with bitterness the massive floods of the 2007/2008 rainy season and the harsh consequences they had for his life.

MOZAMBIQUE: Officials Master Floods – But Battle To Contain Diseases That Follow

More people have died of cholera following recent floods in Mozambique than the number of those who perished in the rising floodwaters. Most rivers in central and northern Mozambique burst their banks after heavy rains in December, January and February, and as a result of Cyclone Jokwe - which hit in early March.

SOUTH AFRICA: Water Supply Proposal Sparks Controversy and Suspicion

A plan to increase the supply of potable water to two coastal towns in South Africa's Eastern Cape Province is provoking heated debate.

HEALTH-DR CONGO: Water Everywhere, But Is It Safe To Drink?

The rain falls in battering sheets, rolling eastward along the Congo River through Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It is midday, but the sky turns black and soon the potholed streets of this decrepit yet vibrant metropolis are filled with pond-sized puddles, many of them larger than the cars that traverse them.

Q&A: "Between Implementation and Planning, There Is a Disconnect"

Accounting for about a third of the gross domestic product in sub-Saharan Africa, agriculture clearly plays a significant role on the continent. But, figures only tell part of the story. A review of Africa produced under the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) notes that agriculture is also "woven into the fabric of most societies and cultures in the region."

RIGHTS: Development Financing Still Gender-Blind

When the U.N.'s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) held a special high-level meeting to discuss the new challenges facing the international community, the focus was largely on the credit crisis, rising commodity prices, declining development aid and the devastating impact of climate change on developing nations.

WORLD HEALTH DAY: Climate Change a Challenge to Human Species

World Health Day, celebrated Apr. 7, is a good opportunity to "call attention to the fact that the survival of humanity is at stake" because of climate change, according to Mirta Roses, director of the Pan-American Health Organisation.

NICARAGUA: Houses Without Water or Water Without Houses?

Authorities in Nicaragua are facing the dilemma of generating thousands of jobs through the development of the construction and real estate industry in the capital or putting a priority on future water supplies for the city’s 1.2 million people.