In a speech to Spanish lawmakers and military leaders,

Feb 9,2011

          A displaced Afghan woman receives winter aid from the U.N refugee agency in Kabul

Exploring an escalating confrontation over resources with global implications.

Water scarcity, rapid economic growth and soaring energy demand are forming a tightening noose that could choke off China's modernization.

Underlying China's new standing in the world, like a tectonic fault line, is an increasingly fierce competition between energy and water that threatens to upend China's progress. Simply put, say Chinese authorities and government reports, China's demand for energy, particularly for coal, is outpacing its freshwater supply.

From his perch as chief economist for the International Energy Agency (IEA), Fatih Birol is virtually shouting his global warming predictions from the Paris rooftops.

Unless the United States, Europe, China, India and the other emerging economies get on a crash course to slash greenhouse gases, Birol contends, world leaders can simply forget about one of their oft-talked-about goals: stabilizing the average global temperature rise at 2 degrees Celsius.