TOKYO, (IPS) - Japan, a voracious consumer of marine resources, is now discovering that the drastic depletion of its own fish stocks is linked to the loss of underwater seaweed colonies -- caused, in turn, by rising sea temperatures.

   ''It's no exaggeration to say that Japan faces a critical situation when describing the rapid decline of marine supply in its domestic waters that is linked to seaweed loss. Tengusa (seaweed) provides food for marine species,'' says Tomohiro Takase, head of the fisheries department at the Hachijojima municipality.

SURABAYA, Indonesia (Asia Water Wire) - Indonesians used to welcome rains as a sign of better, more fertile times, but are increasingly greeting them with dread due to the increasing severity of floods.

   Across different parts of this archipelagic country that has been bathed in rains since the start of the year, many are bracing for even more problems that floods may bring this month. 

Both humans and animals alike bathe in the polluted Hudiara drain, a tributary of the Ravi river.

But there is more to this than meets the eye. “No need to be  happy. The plants we use the yield of are watered by Hudiara drain,”  says Hania Aslam of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Pakistan, referring  to a highly polluted tributary of the River Ravi.

ALMATY, Kazakhstan (Asia Water Wire) – Irrigated agriculture, which used to be the secret of Central Asian countries’ prosperity, is now turning into a nightmare for the region’s environmentalists. 

   The exhaustive use of water for irrigation, especially in the latter half of the 20th century when irrigation was expanded to about 150,000 hectares of new farmland, has doubled the withdrawal of water from the region’s rivers.

KARACHI, Pakistan (Asia Water Wire) – The 18th century port-city is not only Pakistan’s largest but also boasts of a harbour which is said to be among the best in Asia. 

   The city lies northwest of the Indus delta, the country’s largest river system. Another river, Lyari flows across the city and empties into the harbour comprising of over 3 kilometres of wharfs, docks and other installations. 

SHONAIKAIZI, Bangladesh (Asia Water Wire) - Fresh monsoon water  rushed down from the Assam highland onto the river Dharla in  Bangladesh, near the Moghulhat border, about 300 kilometres northwest  of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.

   As usual, the Dharla had been dormant for well over eight months. She  suddenly woke up with her shallow, sandy bed embracing the rushing  water. Villages on both banks still remained a mile away from the  stream formed by the early monsoon rains in the upstream.

HO CHI MINH CITY (IPS/AWW )- Living amidst glistening wet paddies, marshes, lagoons and rivers, Vietnamese may be said to be leading an amphibious existence. Yet, access to safe drinking water is a concern for many citizens.

   Take Nguyen Minh Trung. Every time he turns on a tap in his Ba Thang Hai Street residence in this southern city, he wonders whether the water will leave a yellow or a black sediment.

BROOKLIN, Canada (IPS) - The United Nations estimates that upwards of 50 million people may be on the move in five years due to environmental disasters and degradation. 

   More people are already displaced by environmental disasters than war, according to the Red Cross. 

   Sea level rise, expanding deserts and catastrophic weather-induced flooding have already contributed to large permanent migrations and could eventually displace hundreds of millions, United Nations University (UNU) experts said in statement marking the U.N. Day for Disaster Reduction on Wednesday. 

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan (Asia Water Wire) - Ageing and poorly maintained uranium mine-tailings and waste rock dumps continue to threaten several million people in Central Asia, warn ecologists.

   The radioactive tailings and waste rock dumps are located in the area of a former uranium plant built 50 years ago in the Mailuu-Suu River Valley, in the western Osh province of Kyrgyzstan. 

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Asia Water Wire) - Sadiq Shah, a 45-year-old farmer from Amangarh village, visits his fields on the banks of the Kabul River in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP) almost everyday.

   But there’s less and less to see: the tomato crop is barely 12 centimetres tall and sugarcane is not as it used to be in the past. Shaking his head, he says, “I’ve lost it again.”