Gaddissa Deyassa and Kifle Woldearegay discuss water security and livelihoods in Tigray’s Drylands, Northern Ethiopia. They discuss the interventions that enhanced the local water cycle in the micro watershed of Gulle, a catchment area of 12 km2 situated in the Tigray National Regional State.
Cape Town came close to running out of water in 2018. South Africa is in a period of water scarcity. According to the National Water and Sanitation Master Plan, the country could face a water deficit of up to 17% by 2030. Over the past seven years, over 40,000 hectares have been cleared of invasive alien plants in priority catchments in Greater Cape Town Water Fund.
In Kerawa and Kolofata, in Cameroon's Far North Region, access to water has become a daily struggle due to drought. 60 per cent of the population in the commune of 631 square kilometres are internally displaced persons. The commune is also affected by insecurity.
The City of Corpus Christi expects to enact emergency restrictions on water use in September, according to draft documents slated for release at a City Council meeting on Tuesday morning. The order would be an unprecedented conservation measure to draw out the timeline to depletion of the region’s reservoirs, which could occur within the next year. The region's three reservoirs could dry up entirely this year if drought conditions persist.
The Middle East is under high water stress. In the six Gulf monarchies, over 60 million people rely heavily on desalinated seawater, 99 per cent of drinking water in Qatar. Destroying the desalination plants could effectively make cities like Doha, Dubai, and Manama uninhabitable. This is not a natural inevitability, it reflects how the states organised societies and natural resources around fossil-fuelled growth and militarised security.
The water crisis in Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni has become a defining feature of municipal service delivery. The greatest impact of the water crisis is felt in poor and marginalised communities. The South African Human Rights Commission has launched an investigative inquiry into Gauteng’s water crisis. The inquiry is scheduled for 19 to 21 May 2026. It will assess the extent, nature and root causes of the crisis.
Costa Rica's Guanacaste province is one of the driest regions in the world. The region is home to wealthy people from North America and other wealthy countries. Real estate investors and foreign buyers are looking for coastal land for speculation and second homes. The development has a pernicious impact on the environment and the local economy.
The Global South is at the forefront of a climate change crisis that was largely created by a few wealthy nations. Global Voices Spotlight will focus on the ingenuity, agency, and leadership of communities, activists, scientists, and entrepreneurs across Africa, South and Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Western Asia and North Africa, and the Pacific. The global funding crisis has made it harder to report on these issues. Donate now and your contribution will go towards paying our editors and other staff so that we can offer you more of these urgent insights.
New Mexico's acequias date back to the late 16th century, when the Spanish colonized the region. This year, New Mexico is facing record-low snowpack, which is essential for supplying an even flow of water into acequia systems. The state experienced its warmest winter on record and warmest March.
Rio Grande Compact Commission meets in Santa Fe, N.M., to discuss the water situation on the Rio Grande River. Colorado, New Mexico and Texas signed the compact in 1938 to resolve disputes over water rights along the river. Climate change, the prolonged megadrought in the Southwest and water demands have made the task more difficult in recent years.