Charanya Krishnaswami, a Yale Law School student and member of the Transnational Development Clinic, and Muneer I. Ahmad, Yale Law School professor and director of the Transnational Development Clinic, discussed the UN’s failure to acknowledge its responsibility for introducing cholera into Haiti following the 2010 earthquake in “UN Hypocrisy In Haiti,” a column in the Washington Post (22 March 2013). Haitians became infected after cholera-infected waste was introduced into a tributary of the Artibonite river by UN peacekeepers from Nepal. Krishnaswami and Ahmad report that cholera continues to infect 1500 people every week. The UN is refusing to hold itself accountable and has not yet established a commission to hear the Haitians’ claims even though it has agreed to do so. Two former Pulitzer Center student fellows, Meghan Dhaliwal and Jason Hayes, traveled to Haiti in July 2012 to report on the situation and interview Haitians who have filed legal complaints – as well as the lawyers who represent them. See their stories and photos here. Photo: A man holds a picture of himself taken when he was incapacitated by cholera. Image by Meghan Dhaliwal. Haiti, 2012.
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Charanya Krishnaswami, a Yale Law School student and member of the Transnational Development Clinic, and Muneer I. Ahmad, Yale Law School professor and director of the Transnational Development Clinic, discussed the UN’s failure to acknowledge its responsibility for introducing cholera into Haiti following the 2010 earthquake in “UN Hypocrisy In Haiti,” a column in the Washington Post (22 March 2013).

Haitians became infected after cholera-infected waste was introduced into a tributary of the Artibonite river by UN peacekeepers from Nepal. Krishnaswami and Ahmad report that cholera continues to infect 1500 people every week. The UN is refusing to hold itself accountable and has not yet established a commission to hear the Haitians’ claims even though it has agreed to do so.

Two former Pulitzer Center student fellows, Meghan Dhaliwal and Jason Hayes, traveled to Haiti in July 2012 to report on the situation and interview Haitians who have filed legal complaints – as well as the lawyers who represent them. See their stories and photos here.

Photo: A man holds a picture of himself taken when he was incapacitated by cholera. Image by Meghan Dhaliwal. Haiti, 2012.

Cuba’s isolation and economic stagnation has had one benefit: its coral reefs are in much better shape than other reefs in the Caribbean. Their relative health is allowing researchers to establish baselines that help shed light on declines in ocean health elsewhere.  But while Cuba has mostly escaped the tourism, pollution and overfishing that has wrecked other reefs, it cannot escape the global phenomenons of climate change and invasive species.  There are some things to celebrate, however. In 2010, researchers from the US and Cuba started collaborating to help marine conservation, after more than 50 years of academic separation. — Caroline See grantee Lygia Navarro’s reporting on Cuba’s environment and reefs here. Image by Lygia Navarro. Cuba, 2010. Help us expand our ocean reporting by supporting our Indiegogo project Ocean Matters today!
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Cuba’s isolation and economic stagnation has had one benefit: its coral reefs are in much better shape than other reefs in the Caribbean. Their relative health is allowing researchers to establish baselines that help shed light on declines in ocean health elsewhere. 

But while Cuba has mostly escaped the tourism, pollution and overfishing that has wrecked other reefs, it cannot escape the global phenomenons of climate change and invasive species. 

There are some things to celebrate, however. In 2010, researchers from the US and Cuba started collaborating to help marine conservation, after more than 50 years of academic separation.

— Caroline

See grantee Lygia Navarro’s reporting on Cuba’s environment and reefs here. Image by Lygia Navarro. Cuba, 2010.

Help us expand our ocean reporting by supporting our Indiegogo project Ocean Matters today!

Photojournalist Sean Gallagher discusses his recent work photographing on the Tibetan Plateau. He shares his thoughts in how he conceptualised his project, its evolution and how he executed it whilst in the field, discussing some of the challenges he faced. His final project, titled ‘Meltdown: Climate Change and Environmental Degradation on the Tibetan Plateau’, looks at issues such as melting glaciers, grassland degradation, desertification, mining and the disappearance of Tibetan culture.

We’re featuring our water-related reporting all week for World Water Day.

Deforestation and climate change have worsened flooding along the Brahmaputra river in India, breeding competition and conflict for higher land. Flooding’s economic devastation has also led to an uptick in the trafficking of girls for sex and brides. Read the story from Pulitzer Center grantee Carl Gierstorfer. Image by Carl Gierstorfer. India, 2013.   We’re featuring our water-related projects for World Water Day. 
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Deforestation and climate change have worsened flooding along the Brahmaputra river in India, breeding competition and conflict for higher land. Flooding’s economic devastation has also led to an uptick in the trafficking of girls for sex and brides. Read the story from Pulitzer Center grantee Carl Gierstorfer. Image by Carl Gierstorfer. India, 2013.

 

We’re featuring our water-related projects for World Water Day. 

Can India and Pakistan Share Water?

In a wide-ranging essay, Pulitzer Center grantee William Wheeler reflects on his global water reporting. An excerpt: 

“In Pakistan, I saw how water crises are not self-contained. Several analysts and historians I talked to that summer believe the initial spark of the region’s most enduring conflict – the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan over the Muslim region – was perhaps less about religious differences and more about control of the region’s vital water resources.

Kashmir is home to the headwaters of the Indus River, Pakistan’s primary water lifeline. India also harnesses some of the river’s flow for hydropower. But the fragile status quo that governs sharing of the river is under threat from booming population demands and the impacts of climate change. Both nations are racing to complete hydroelectric dams along the Kashmir rivers, elevating tensions. India’s projects are of such size and scope to worry Pakistan about water shortages at critical times and massive deluges at other times.”

Read the rest of William Wheeler’s piece here.

We’re featuring our water-related reporting for World Water Day.

Afghanistan’s Water Crisis Most of Afghanistan’s water flows out of the country unused, despite farmers struggles to keep crops watered. Only a small fraction of foreign aid money has gone to water infrastructure projects, while the few projects that have actually been started have been mired in conflict. Read grantee Mujib Mashal’s stories on this under-reported crisis here. We’re featuring our water-related reporting for World Water Day.
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Afghanistan’s Water Crisis

Most of Afghanistan’s water flows out of the country unused, despite farmers struggles to keep crops watered. Only a small fraction of foreign aid money has gone to water infrastructure projects, while the few projects that have actually been started have been mired in conflict. Read grantee Mujib Mashal’s stories on this under-reported crisis here.

We’re featuring our water-related reporting for World Water Day.

A Deadly Struggle for Water

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“With a vast, empty desert as a backdrop, the militants recorded the execution of Khan Wali on video. As someone held a camera, the others encircled the condemned man to read out his sentence. “This is not brutality — this is justice,” declared one of the executioners, who sported a black turban and a shaggy beard. “I swear to God that killing him with an 82-mm mortar is not enough. But the rest of our mujahedin would not agree on my recommendation — to kill him in a way that all can take part in the act.”

And so it was decided to shoot Khan Wali with the 82-mm mortar. They forced him to kneel 36 m away from the portable cannon, a type often used in small battles in the war-torn country. A militant positioned behind the weapon then set it off; a massive thumping sound was followed by celebratory cries of Allahu akbar — God is great. “Be careful, don’t get any blood on your clothes,” said one voice as the other men, after jubilantly hugging one another, rushed to poke at Khan Wali’s flesh splattered on the ground. “I enjoyed this very much,” said one.

What was Khan Wali’s crime? He was protecting one of Afghanistan’s most important resources: water. Khan Wali led a 60-man semiofficial militia tasked with defending the Machalgho dam in eastern Paktia province. Already two years behind schedule because of security concerns, the dam would irrigate about 16,000 hectares of land and produce 800 KW of electricity once completed. The government had pledged that if Khan Wali held his ground for two months, he and his men would receive weapons and cash. But Khan Wali lasted only 20 days into the mission.”

Read the rest of grantee Mujib Mashal’s story on Afghanistan’s looming water crisis here. Image by Mujib Mashal. Afghanistan, 2012.

We’re featuring our water-related reporting all week for World Water Day.

In Panama, concerns about mining’s impacts on water and the environment have sparked protests. Grantees Mellissa Fung and Lynn Burgess travelled to the country as part of their reporting on Latin America’s new conquistadors, Canadian mining companies. They were told by one mine owner in Panama that his mine had no negative impacts, but the locals had another story: “Jeremiah Perez has lived in the village of Molejones for most of this life. He calls himself the vice-president of the town’s tourism committee, but it’s hard to see any tourism in the area these days. He clambers across the steep bank where the Molejones and Turbe rivers come together and points to the water. “Look,” he says, “look at the turbidity of the river. The Molejones used to run clear down this area. Now look at it.” The difference is striking. The muddy Molejones, which flows down from the Petaquilla gold mine, joins up with the clearer Turbe at this junction. Locals here speak nostalgically about the shrimp and fish they used to catch from these banks. No more, says Perez. “Most people are afraid to speak out, but there have been a number of skin infections caused by the lack of clean water. We’ve also experienced diarrhea here and some type of gastrointestinal illness that wasn’t common here until the mine started operating.” Just down the river from where he’s speaking, a group of women are knee-deep in the river, washing their clothes. There’s no other choice. For many here, this is their only source of water.” Read the whole story here. Photo: A Ngobe activist protests against a Canadian mining company in Nueva Lucha, Panama, where indigenous people see the mining industry as a threat to their way of life. Image by Mellissa Fung. Panama, 2012. We’re featuring our water-related reporting all week in honor of World Water Day on March 22, 2013.
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In Panama, concerns about mining’s impacts on water and the environment have sparked protests. Grantees Mellissa Fung and Lynn Burgess travelled to the country as part of their reporting on Latin America’s new conquistadors, Canadian mining companies. They were told by one mine owner in Panama that his mine had no negative impacts, but the locals had another story:

“Jeremiah Perez has lived in the village of Molejones for most of this life. He calls himself the vice-president of the town’s tourism committee, but it’s hard to see any tourism in the area these days. He clambers across the steep bank where the Molejones and Turbe rivers come together and points to the water.

“Look,” he says, “look at the turbidity of the river. The Molejones used to run clear down this area. Now look at it.” The difference is striking. The muddy Molejones, which flows down from the Petaquilla gold mine, joins up with the clearer Turbe at this junction.

Locals here speak nostalgically about the shrimp and fish they used to catch from these banks. No more, says Perez. “Most people are afraid to speak out, but there have been a number of skin infections caused by the lack of clean water. We’ve also experienced diarrhea here and some type of gastrointestinal illness that wasn’t common here until the mine started operating.”

Just down the river from where he’s speaking, a group of women are knee-deep in the river, washing their clothes. There’s no other choice. For many here, this is their only source of water.”

Read the whole story here.

Photo: A Ngobe activist protests against a Canadian mining company in Nueva Lucha, Panama, where indigenous people see the mining industry as a threat to their way of life. Image by Mellissa Fung. Panama, 2012.

We’re featuring our water-related reporting all week in honor of World Water Day on March 22, 2013.

World Water Day: Every day, millions of people across West Africa experience water shortage, lacking access to clean, safe drinking water. The World Health Organization estimates that more than 1,000 people in the region, who are denied clean water access, die each day from illnesses related to unsafe water. Along with causing hygiene and sanitation issues, the water shortage is hampering development. In two of the biggest and richest nations of the region, Nigeria and Ghana, pollution, political unrest, and corruption have contributed to water shortages for decades. What’s different today is that a new generation of West African journalists is trying to hold government officials accountable for the failures. Pulitzer Center grantee Steve Sapienza teamed up with two of them, Nigeria’s Ameto Akpe and Ghana’s Samuel Agyemang, as they did their jobs, reporting on failing water projects in the region. 

This report is part of Pulitzer Center-sponsored projects “Nigeria’s Water and Sanitation Sector: Leaks and Plugs” and “Murky Waters in Ghana.”

We’re featuring water-related reporting this week in honor of World Water Day, on March 22nd.