SEATTLE — According to a 2007 paper by Oxford Professor David Grey and World Bank water security expert Claudia Sadoff, water security is “the reliable availability of an acceptable quantity and quality of water for health, livelihoods, ecosystems and production, coupled with an acceptable level of water-related risks.” Water insecurity represents a growing humanitarian crisis: an estimated 800 million people are without safe drinking water, and 2.5 billion lack proper sanitation. Throughout history, the issue of water security has always been of great importance. It has the potential to spark conflict or, some theorize, broker peace. Countries most susceptible to water insecurity…
Author: Sydney Nam
Sydney Nam
Sydney is an ethnically Korean, American/Australian national university student in London, England. Although based in Hawaii, currently, she studies at King’s College London to graduate with a dual Bachelor of Arts in War Studies and History. When not writing for The Borgen Project, she moonlights as a digital tour guide of London.
SANA’A, Yemen — March 2017 marked the two-year anniversary of what many consider to be the beginning of Yemen’s civil war. Its origins stem from the historic religious dispute between the Sunni majority and Shia minority Muslims, exacerbated by political instability in 2015. Ongoing conflict is one of the main causes of poverty in Yemen. The civil war is fought largely between Houthi rebels against supporters of the internationally recognized President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who found support from a Saudi-led coalition. The Saudi coalition garnered military support from a handful of countries, including the United States, Egypt, United Arab Emirates…
SEATTLE — In 2011, South Sudan gained independence from its northern counterpart, Sudan. South Sudan’s short history as an independent nation is already riddled with violent instability. The South Sudanese civil war broke out in 2013 due to myriad federal and civil disputes including contesting ethnic factions, federal embezzlement, poor governance and a lack of laws. Because of this chaos, human rights in South Sudan have suffered. The 2015 peace treaty, brokered by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IDAG), was broken almost a year later when the vice president’s residence was looted and destroyed. Following this incident, violent protests and…
SEATTLE — Domestic energy poverty is one of the greatest issues of developing countries. The International Energy Agency calculated that 1.2 billion people do not have access to electricity and over 2.7 billion people lack sanitary cooking materials. Statistically, over 95 percent of these people are in sub-Saharan Africa and developing Asia with 80 percent in rural areas. Energy and poverty alleviation are more closely interrelated than they may first appear. Energy is the basic resource needed to meet most rudimentary needs. Food, water and medical security often rely on energy security. So, with approximately 10 percent of the world…