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"Freshwater supply and water quality under pressure, warns UN secretary general on International Day of Biological Diversity"

Ban Ki-moon has warned the world is on course to run out of freshwater unless greater efforts are made to improve water security. Speaking on the UN's International Day of Biological Diversity, Ban said there was a "mutually reinforcing" relationship between biodiversity and water that should be harnessed.

"Authorities push forward plans for 314 metre-high dam on Dadu river which would affect rare plants and fish"

"Authorities push forward plans for 314 metre-high dam on Dadu river which would affect rare plants and fish"

"Five hundred scientists meeting in Bonn last month warned that 9 billion people would face the consequences of severe water shortages within a generation or two, but did not point the finger at industries devastating fresh water supplies. Meanwhile, a battle against a metal mining industry that has ravaged freshwater supplies in El Salvador shows just how difficult it is for a developing country to build economic alternatives for a water-secure future."

"The UK's first self-closing flood barriers have been installed to protect a Lake District town hit by devastating flooding. The £4.4m scheme has been put in place in the Cumbrian town of Cockermouth, where the automatic barriers aim to prevent a repeat of the floods in 2009, when a month's rain fell in 24 hours, destroying 900 homes and forcing hundreds of people to evacuate."

"Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory have become the first two administrations to sign up to the Murray Darling Basin plan, committing both governments to replenish water to the key river system."

"Construction of Grand Renaissance dam to continue despite Eygptian concerns over impact on water supply and farming"

"A £25billion rival to the Panama Canal could be built across Nicaragua - funded entirely by the Chinese. The hugely ambitious engineering project would give China control of a vital waterway to challenge the one completed by the US in Panama nearly 100 years ago. Legislation paving the way for a new canal was given the go-ahead by Nicaraguan politicians on Monday night and is expected to be approved by the National Assembly tomorrow."

Australia and US offer desalination and reverse-osmosis units as severe drought worsens in Pacific archipelago

Water storage maps

"More than 100 environmental, social and indigenous organisations protested in the Chilean capital, Santiago, this week to demand that the state regain control of the management of water, which was privatised by the then dictatorship in 1981."

For the past two years Iraq, Syria, Jordan and parts of Turkey and Lebanon, have suffered the devastating effects of the worst drought the Middle East has experienced in decades.

"The algae, which can suffocate marine life, is thought to be caused by pollution from agriculture and industry"

"Lester Brown says grain harvests are already shrinking as US, India and China come close to 'peak water'"

"As population rises, overpumping means some nations have reached peak water, which threatens food supply, says Lester Brown"

"The tanning factory has been accused by local people of dumping dangerous chemicals and causing health complaints"