Water crisis in Australia? Yes, this news took me by surprise, especially as I am preparing for my Christmas vacation there. I wouldn’t have taken the story seriously but for the fact that it comes from a staid British magazine, The Economist.
“The world’s driest inhabited continent, Australia is facing water shortages unprecedented in the two centuries since Europeans settled it. There is a long-running drought in the country’s east, the main farming belt.
“Sydney, the biggest city, whose main supply reservoir is just 40% full, and Canberra, the capital, are both on indefinite water restrictions.
“The Murray River and Darling River (known as the Murray Darling Basin, or MDB), which supply more than two-thirds of Australia’s farming irrigation, are flowing at their lowest levels in a century.
“The rivers run through three states whose separate laws on how much water farmers can extract from them have hampered conservation efforts. Seeking to overcome this, in 2004 the federal and state governments set up a national water market, allowing farmers to trade water across state borders, and governments to buy water.
“The hope is that the market will see water reallocated to regions that use it most efficiently, and that meanwhile degradation of the MDB will be reversed. It will take about a decade to see if this is the case.”
Hope Australia is taking timely conservation measures before the situation gets out of hand in this wonderful country.
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.