position:minister of environment

#Kenya water discovery brings hope for drought relief in rural north | Global development | theguardian.com
▻http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/sep/11/kenya-water-discovery-drought-relief

Two vast underground aquifers, storing billions of litres of water, have been discovered in the poorest and least developed area of Kenya.

The finds, in Turkana county in the north west, were uncovered using new technology to interpret ground-penetrating radar from satellites. Professor Judy Wakhungu, appointed minister of environment, water and natural resources in April, described the find as extremely significant. “It is not too deep and ought not to be not too expensive to develop,” she added.

Wakhungu said Kenya plans to use the technology to map the entire country: “We are excited to be able to provide a national map of the country’s water resources.”

“We processed imagery from the pace shuttle,” Gachet said. “This allowed us to build up a detailed surface map. Then we interpreted radar imagery from the Japanese space agency and deep seismic data from the oil industry. With this approach, we were able to peel back the surface of the earth like an onion.”

#eau #satellite #cartographie #aquifère

Autour des mines mongoles, croissance, pollution et ninjas
►http://blog.mondediplo.net/2013-04-19-Autour-des-mines-mongoles-croissance-pollution-et

Comme dans de nombreux pays émergents, l’écosystème de la Mongolie subit de plein fouet les effets de ses progrès économiques, essentiellement dûs à l’exploitation « anarchique » des nombreux gisements de minerais dispersés sur un territoire équivalent à deux fois et demie celui de la France. L’essor de l’activité minière, depuis vingt ans, représente à la fois un remarquable potentiel économique et une grande menace environnementale. Cette métamorphose est porteuse d’autant de promesses que de dangers. La (...)