Water resources

    Cloud seeding, flash floods, and a thirsty city: The UAE’s fragile relationship with rain
    09 Sep 2025

    As the UAE grapples with water scarcity and flash floods, rain is both a blessing and a warning. Outside of a mountain village in the northern outskirts of the United Arab Emirates, clouds on a recent weekend suddenly crowded out the white-hot sun that bakes this desert nation in the summer months. Fierce winds blew […]

    Satellites just revealed a hidden global water crisis—and it’s worse than melting ice
    09 Aug 2025

    New findings from studying over two decades of satellite observations reveal that the Earth’s continents have experienced unprecedented freshwater loss since 2002, driven by climate change, unsustainable groundwater use and extreme droughts. The study, led by Arizona State University and published on July 25 in Science Advances, highlights the emergence of four continental-scale “mega-drying” regions, all located in […]

    Syria left high and dry as water system evaporates, experts say
    08 Aug 2025

    Syria’s drought crisis is deepening in 2025, marked not only by low rain but by a systemic unravelling of the country’s water cycle, experts have found. A new report released by the Mercy Corps Syria Crisis Analysis Team said that in many regions of the country, “water shortages are becoming longer, more severe and increasingly […]

    The race to save our oceans could sink us without rules
    06 Aug 2025

    Climate interventions are accelerating in our oceans – but without responsible governance, they could do more harm than good, according to new research. Coral bleaching, rising sea levels, and biodiversity loss are no longer distant threats – they are unfolding now, with profound consequences for marine ecosystems and the communities that depend on them. In […]

    What is UNOC? World leaders gather in Nice to confront ocean emergency

    More than 10,000 people will gather in France for largest ocean conference ever. World leaders are gathering in the French city of Nice on Monday for the United Nations Ocean Conference. It comes as just 2.7 per cent of the world’s oceans are effectively protected from extractive activities, according to the non-profit Marine Conservation Institute. […]

    Saving the ocean is easier than we realised, says David Attenborough

    In August 2022, David Attenborough was sitting in the kitchen with his daughter Susan and long-time friend and collaborator Keith Scholey. They were sketching out the idea for a new film – one that would reveal the ocean as humanity had never seen it before. It was an ambitious vision for any filmmaker, let alone one in […]

    UAE water tech start-up wins praise at Expo 2025 in Osaka

    Manhat, a UAE start-up dedicated to sustainable water and floating farm solutions, has been honoured at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan, receiving the Best Practices Award. It is one of 25 start-ups from around the world to win the award celebrating endeavours tackling global challenges. The water-technology start-up’s story is being showed in the best practices area of the global exhibition, […]

    World’s rivers remapped to improve flood modeling

    A team led by researchers at the University of Oxford has created the most complete map of the world’s rivers ever made offering a major leap forward for flood prediction, climate risk planning, and water resource management in a warming world. The new study, published in Water Resources Research, introduces GRIT — a mapping system that […]

    Leak: EU to target clean-up of ‘forever chemicals’ in water strategy

    The European Commission plans to support large scale efforts to clean up forever chemicals as part of its upcoming water resilience strategy, acknowledging the widespread threat of water pollution and the need for technological innovation to address it. The European Commission is preparing to support a major clean-up initiative targeting water pollution by so-called “forever […]

    More than one billion litres of water evaporate from UAE swimming pools each year, research suggests
    12 May 2025

    With its endless sunshine and sizzling temperatures, the UAE is the perfect place at which to kickback and enjoy an afternoon by the pool. But a new study suggests that the desire to take a dip consumes significant amounts of water, with more than a billion litres probably evaporating each year from the country’s pools. While the […]