News

The Dead Sea is dying. Drinking water is scarce. Jordan faces a climate crisis

Article cites research by GFI's Jordan Water Project.

Published: Thursday, April 15, 2021 Source: Los Angeles Times
Stanford study reveals a deepening water crisis in Jordan – and a way forward

Prolonged and potentially destabilizing water shortages will become commonplace in Jordan by 2100, new research finds, unless the nation implements comprehensive reform, from fixing leaky pipes to desalinating seawater. Jordan’s water crisis is emblematic of challenges looming around the world as a result of climate change and rapid population growth.

Published: Monday, March 29, 2021 Source: Stanford News Service
How the Syrian refugee crisis affected land use and shared transboundary freshwater resources

Brookings Institution blog post by GFI director Steven Gorelick and GFI researchers Marc Muller and Jim Yoon.

Published: Monday, February 13, 2017 Source: Brookings Institution
Syrian Crisis Altered Region’s Land and Water Resources, Study Shows

Using remote sensing tools to uncover the environmental impacts of war, researchers introduce novel approaches for hard-to-reach areas.

The Syrian civil war and subsequent refugee migration caused sudden changes in the area’s land use and freshwater resources, according to satellite data analyzed by Stanford researchers.

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Published: Thursday, December 8, 2016 Source: Stanford News Service
World's Freshwater Increasingly Vulnerable

GFI analysis of 119 low-income countries finds challenges in common that could inform broad solutions.

Published: Thursday, January 14, 2016 Source: Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment
Water Security: A Bridge to Peace in the Middle East

Stanford-led project in Jordan, a country that traditionally serves as a stabilizing force in the Middle East, holds promise for better water management and less conflict in arid regions around the world.

Published: Thursday, March 19, 2015 Source: Rob Jordan - Stanford Woods Institute
Leading Journal Honors Faculty Research

GFI study of urban water supply vulnerability recognized as the "Best Paper of 2014" by Environmental Research Letters. The scientific journal recognized that study among 25 "ground-breaking" papers of 2014.

Published: Monday, March 16, 2015 Source: School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences
Water Security in the Middle East

On May 22, His Excellency Dr. Hazim El-Naser, Minister of Water and Irrigation for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, spoke at the Environmental Forum of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. Dr. El-Naser, is a strong supporter of the Jordan Water Project (JWP). His talk was titled "Water Security in the Middle East." Related slides can be found on the JWP website.

Published: Thursday, May 22, 2014 Source: Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment
Jordan Water Project Awarded NSF Grant

On Sept 1., the National Science Foundation awarded three years of funding to an international project led by GFI to explore how to reform institutional water usage rules and improve freshwater system performance in Jordan – one of the ten water-poorest countries in the world. This research grant was part of a large international project known as the Jordan Water Project under the auspices of the Belmont Forum.

Published: Sunday, September 1, 2013 Source: Global Freshwater Initiative
Arsenic Project Awarded NSF Grant

On Sept 1., the National Science Foundation awarded two years of funding to a GFI project that seeks to understand and recommend precautions and solutions related to water contamination in Southern Asia, where an estimated 100 million people have been exposed to risks from groundwater contaminated with naturally occurring arsenic.

 

Published: Sunday, September 1, 2013 Source: Global Freshwater Initiative
Nature Highlight: Sinking ground poisons wells

The journal Nature highlighted the GFI research describing a previously unrecognized source of arsenic threatens Vietnam's clean water.

Published: Tuesday, August 13, 2013 Source: Nature
GFI Analysis Honored

In the Fall of 2013, a groundbreaking analysis co-authored by Global Freshwater Initiative researchers won the 2012 (AGU) American Geophysical Union's Water Resources Research Editor's Choice Award. The paper, published in the October 2012 issue of the journal Water Resources Research, is the first to systematically analyze and classify water crises around the world. It finds that water systems have a limited set of patterns, or "syndromes," which can be classified into one of four categories and which have their root causes in just a few factors. The finding challenges long-held views that freshwater issues require highly individualized solutions. The award was given to recognize "technical significance, novelty, originality, presentation and broader implications of the publication."  The Water Resources Research Editor's Choice Award -- announced at that AGU meeting in San Francisco in December 2013.

Published: Wednesday, October 24, 2012 Source: Rob Jordan, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment