Precious fluid
Widespread freshwater shortages are hanging over us.
Dinyar Godrej brings the challenge ahead into focus.

From dawn to dusk
Africa's climate of thirst.

Big dams, big trouble
And they are no way to ease water problems either,
argues Patrick McCully.

Closing the loop
Maggie Black talks dirty with a group of sanitation experts in a Chinese hotel and sees a green future for the humble loo.

WATER - the facts

Stalling the big steal
The big water multinationals are eyeing Ghana's supply.
Rudolf Amenga-Etego is part of the opposition.

Running out of water, running out of time
Unequal control of scarce water resources is helping crank up Israeli-Palestinian tensions. Charmaine Seitz reports.

Trygve B0lstad / Panos Pictures

DO we look our age? More importantly, do we act it? The NI is 30 this month and feeling frisky. And why not? We live, as ever, in interesting times.

In March 1973, when the first edition appeared (with Zambian leader Kenneth Kaunda on its cover), the possibility of radical global change was almost tangible. The hope and passion of the 1960s had birthed us: we raised our fists at an international set-up that solidified inequality, fervent in our belief that another world was not just possible, but the only option. Reagan, Thatcher, the 1980s and the institutionalization of rapacious greed shocked us all. And here we are now: with a needless war looming as I write, with corporate power squeezing the world like a boa constrictor, but with a groundswell of popular resistance fighting the cant on every continent. The name New Internationalist, once an awkward mouthful, seems more relevant than ever - there's a lot of internationalism about. We continue to take a crack at enormous topics (this month it's Water) as well as focusing on areas neglected elsewhere. Much as we cherish our independence (we operate as a co-operative, receive no funding and are not owned by anyone), we cherish even more our dependence on you, our readers. Thank you for staying with us and for letting us know just what you think of us.

Dinyar Godrej
for the New Internationalist
Co-operative
dinyar@antenna.nl