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Abstract Background Las Vegas has often been described as offering the paradox of wasting large amounts of water for the tourism industry, whereas it is located in an arid desert area. However, a closer examination shows that it is residential demand that is responsible for most of water use. Method This paper will rely on the analysis and comparison of the main water policy elements in several Western cities, with a special focus on Las Vegas. Results The city authorities embarked, in the late 1950s, in policies aimed at reducing a very large residential water demand. If the authorities have been successful, efficiency gains can certainly be achieved as per capita use remains high in the Las Vegas area, and tariffs low. Conclusion Political, sociological, legal and technical constraints weigh in to provide for a difficult equation to solve for water authorities. These difficulties might explain why the lure of massive water diversions is looming high again.

Fast-receding summer sea ice in the Arctic has been documented and making the headlines since 2007. The phenomenon, underlined by scientists and the media since about the turn of the century, has triggered speculation about the opening of much shorter sea routes linking Europe via the eastern North American coast to Asia. The prospect of growing shipping traffic in Arctic waters, especially through the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic archipelago, or through the northeast passage north of Russia, has fuelled rhetoric on the status of these Arctic routes and controversy over the pace of such shipping growth. Few analysts question the common belief that it is only a matter of time before new sea lanes will be operational in the Arctic. This prospect is at the very heart of the ongoing debate on security in the Canadian Arctic, for it raises the issue of control of such navigation, and therefore of Canadian sovereignty over the Northwest Passage and the Canadian Arctic waters. It is this debate over control of navigation, often depicted as something bound to experience out-of-hand growth, that triggered the House of Commons to vote in favour of a highly debatable resolution in December 2009, renaming the Northwest Passage the Canadian Northwest Passage, a move unlikely to attract any sympathy elsewhere in the world. But how much truth is there in the widely accepted notion that melting sea ice, opening up Arctic channels in the summer, will lead to greatly increased sea traffic in the region? Shorter distances seem to be the main factor considered by commentators, but shipping companies take many other questions into account before their managers decide to develop Arctic shipping. Indeed, shipping companies are in no rush to develop what they perceive to be a risky and not necessarily profitable route. Adapted from the source document.

In a context marked by climate change and the accelerated melting of the ice shelf in summer, the media regularly refer to the power games that are presently emerging in the Artic. Some observers speak of a "battle for the far north", a new "Cold War", even a "mad scramble" among countries bordering the Artic Ocean to control its riches. Yet, beyond these catastrophic and ultimately unlikely scenarios, two questions today pit the five countries of the Artic against one another: that of the status of the North West and North East passages in the event of increased traffic and that of the extension of economic sovereignty to the continental shelf beyond the 200 maritime mile limit of exclusive economic zones (EEZ). Though they are often conflated in the media, these two questions are very different in terms both of the issues at stake and the shifting alliances to which they give rise in the region. Adapted from the source document.

Will the twentieth century be that of wars for fresh water? Growing scarcity & climate change make for an explosive mixture whose destabilizing effects are starting to make themselves felt in many different regions. Some analysts refuse to accept the idea of wars for water, maintaining that such conflicts are impossible; others judge them to be inevitable. In reality, if wars between states over water alone are less than probable, many internal tensions glow under society's ashes.

Consumption patterns of water in the western US are clearly not sustainable. Given the technology available today, massive water transfers could only come from Canada. There have been several mooted projects in this vein, mostly in the 1960s and 1970s. Should the Canadians worry about water exports to the US, especially in the frame of NAFTA? Or is climate change going to be the decisive factor in this debate? This article explores how water is becoming a major political issue between the US and Canada. Adapted from the source document.

In the face of predicted water shortages & their rather over-hyped corollary -- twenty-first century wars over water resources -- the solutions of integrated management sometimes seem outweighed by the size of the difficulties to be overcome, if only because of the problems of putting into practice solutions which must be agreed between a number of countries with varied interests. Managing the needs of several countries, & often of several competing sectors in each one, on the scale of a catchment area, is no small undertaking, especially if there is a history of mistrust between the different governments. Modern civil engineering techniques prompt a fresh look at the possibility of diverting very large volumes of water originating far from centres of consumption over great distances. Adapted from the source document.

Outlines US geopolitical interests in Central Asia in context of military operations in Afghanistan, focusing on importance of oil reserves, considerably reduced Russian influence, and relations with China, Iran, India, and Pakistan.

"Combining practical and theoretical approaches, this book addresses the political, legal and economic implications of maritime disputes in East Asia. The maritime disputes in East Asia have multiplied over the past few years, in parallel with the economic growth of the countries in the region, the rise of nationalist movements, fears and sometimes fantasies regarding the emergence of the People's Republic of China (PRC) as a global power, increasing military expenses, as well as speculations regarding the potential resources in various disputed islands. These disputes, however, are not new and some have been the subject of contention and the cause of friction for decades, if not centuries in a few cases. Offering a robust analysis, this volume explores disputes through the different lenses of political science, international law, history, and geography, and introduces new approaches in particular to the four important disputes concerning Dokdo/Takeshima, Senkaku/Diaoyu, Paracels and Spratlys. Utilising a comparative approach, this book identifies transnational trends that occur in the different cases and, therefore, at the regional level, and aims to understand whether the resurgence of maritime disputes in East Asia may be studied on a case by case basis, or should be analysed as a regional phenomenon with common characteristics. This book will be of interest to students of Asian Politics, Maritime Security, International Security, Geopolitics and International Relations in general"--Provided by publisher.