Topic Reading-Vol.5173-6/23/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Morocco’s answer to drought is in the ocean. Could more of Africa follow its lead?

The world is now using more water than nature provides by rain and snow, and as a result, rivers and lakes are shrinking, wetlands are drying up, and aquifers are declining. Morocco spans from the Atlantic Ocean to mountainous areas and the Sahara Desert. As drought occurs more frequently and for longer, the country can no longer rely on rainfall and dam inflows. So, the country with a population of 37 million launched a project to provide fresh water from the Atlantic to coastal cities while using dam water and rainfall for inland areas. The project includes building desalination plants, dams, wastewater reuse, and water pipelines. The energy-intensive desalination plants are powered by eco-friendly wind and solar power. Economically, desalinated water will boost agricultural outputs and secure farming jobs, which account for a third of the nation’s workforce. However, they also produce high-salt-concentration brine with chemical residues, which could damage marine ecosystems when discharged back into the ocean. Currently, over 20,000 desalination plants are in operation around the world, most of which are fossil-fuel-powered and in the Middle East. Morocco wants its water project to be shared by other water-stricken African countries.

Read the article and learn about how Morocco is managing the water crisis.

https://edition.cnn.com/world/morocco-desalination-ocean-africa-spc

Topic Reading-Vol.5172-6/22/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Swiss voters reject 10 million population cap

While Switzerland’s total fertility rate sits around 1.3, well below the 2.1 replacement rate, its population has grown by nearly 30% in the last three decades to 9.1 million. The driver of the population growth is foreign residents, who now account for as much as 27% of the nation’s population. They contribute significantly to the nation’s economy and society, particularly in tourism, hospitals, and care homes. For example, about half of hotel workers are now immigrants. While they become a much-needed workforce immediately, the rapid increase in the adult population has put strain on transport, housing, and the environment. Recently, a proposal was made by a right-wing party to cap the nation’s population at 10 million. At the direct vote on June 14, 55% of the voters rejected the proposal and 45% supported the population limit. Politicians and business leaders are particularly relieved by the result because they want to keep the country’s commitment to Europe’s free movement of people, a crucial requirement to be part of Europe’s single market. But the 5% gap in the vote might change to the other side depending on social stability, economic pressure, and living conditions.

Read the article and learn about the population increase and cap in Switzerland.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20ygjem17zo

Topic Reading-Vol.5171-6/21/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Maasai women turn drought into income through fodder farming in Tanzania

Maasai people live in Kenya and northern Tanzania. They traditionally make their living by herding livestock, mainly cattle, goats, and sheep. When drought hit the region, they would lose their livestock. Traditionally, Maasai women are responsible not only for managing domestic duties and raising children but also for building homes and milking livestock. Recently, they came up with drought-resistant livestock fodder, which not only feeds their livestock but also generates money. It is part of the climate-adaptation initiatives that are coordinated by the Pastoral Women’s Council (PWC), a women-led membership organization that serves over 450,000 Maasai pastoralists, whose lives and wealth mostly rely on their animals. When climate change accelerates, people of all kinds and ages need to adapt their living to more severe extreme weather conditions.

Read the article and learn about Maasai women’s initiative to survive and thrive during droughts.

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/6/11/maasai-women-turn-drought-into-income-through-fodder-farming-in-tanzania

Topic Reading-Vol.5170-6/20/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Why have World Cup hydration breaks attracted criticism? It's the ads.

While basketball and American football are divided into four 10-to-15-minute quarters, a soccer/football match is split into two 45-minute halves, excluding the stoppage time added by the referee for injuries or substitutions. Now, since the 2026 World Cup games are being hosted in Canada, the USA, and Mexico, game conditions vary widely. FIFA, then, introduced mandatory 3-minute hydration breaks taken 22 minutes into each half for all of the 2026 World Cup matches, to ensure equal conditions for all teams amid dangerous heat. While the additional mandatory breaks hydrate and recharge the players, they disrupt the natural flow and momentum of matches. Fans aren’t necessarily happy with the two disruptions in the middle of the game and the extended game time. In the meantime, the hydrogen breaks bring economic benefits. Since each of the 104 matches has two 3-minute extra ad times, there will be a total of 832 30-sec commercial slots, which will generate substantial revenue for the broadcasters and then for FIFA. Will all soccer games be divided into four quarters?

Read the article and learn about the extra breaks FIFA added to the World Cup games.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/soccer/worldcup/2026/06/18/world-cup-hydration-breaks-ads-chart/90600595007/

Topic Reading-Vol.5169-6/19/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

El Niño is here and rapidly strengthening. Here’s what it means for your weather

El Niño conditions are now underway in the tropical Pacific, with sea surface temperatures having risen sharply in recent months, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). El Niño involves the transfer of a large amount of heat energy from the ocean to the atmosphere, which boosts global average surface temperatures, leading to extreme weather conditions, such as heat waves, flooding, and droughts, depending on the location. It occurs every two to seven years and lasts for about a year, but this one is predicted to be stronger than previous super El Niño events in 2015-16, 1997-98, and 1982-83. Since global average surface temperatures have increased to a record high due to human-caused warming from fossil fuel burning, 2027 will likely be even hotter than the previous record in 2024. Humans have learned to predict climate change, like global warming and El Niño. Are we ready for a hotter, drier, or wetter climate?

Read the article and learn about what the underlying current could do to the climate.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/11/weather/super-el-nino-declared-global-impacts-climate

Topic Reading-Vol.5168-6/18/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

The Netherlands vs the sea: The race to hold back rising waters

About a quarter of the Netherlands lies below sea level, and major coastal cities  Rotterdam, the largest seaport in Europe, sits at -4 meters, and Amsterdam, the capital, at -2 meters. But unlike New Orleans (Vol.5166), the low-lying nation has long been protected by massive storm-surge barriers called the Delta Works for decades from the rising levels of the North Sea and overflowing rivers. Completed in 1997, the 1,000km long protective system consists of dams, dikes, levees, sluices, and pumps. However, as sea levels rise faster and storms become fiercer, the protective system is feared to become unsustainable. The country is already spending about 1% of its GDP annually on building new structures and maintenance and operation of the existing system. It took more than 1,800 lives in the 1853 North Sea Flood to initiate the Delta Works project. How will the Netherlands cope with the rising danger?

Read the article and learn about how human ingenuity has been protecting the Netherlands’ low-lying land.

https://edition.cnn.com/climate/netherlands-vs-the-sea-hold-back-rising-waters-c2e-spc

Topic Reading-Vol.5167-6/17/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Iran’s lakes are vanishing: Satellite images show a deepening water crisis

Iran has hundreds of dams to generate electricity and store water, yet its 92 million residents are facing severe water shortages. More than 30,000 of the country’s 69,000 villages have been abandoned so far due to water shortages. Years of drought, declining rainfall, and unsustainable water use have depleted reservoirs, rivers, and groundwater reserves. For example, Lake Urmia, the largest saltwater lake in the Middle East, has shrunk to less than 10% of its former size since the 1990s. About 90% of the water is used for agriculture, but much of the extracted water doesn’t reach crops because of inefficient irrigation systems. Iran has plenty of oil to export to buy weapons, but not enough water to sustain its farming, industry, and population. It has been at war with the US and Israel for its nuclear weaponization effort, and is putting most of its resources and efforts into firing missiles and flying drones. But which might deplete first, weapons or water?

Read the article and learn how serious Iran’s water shortages are.

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2026/6/9/irans-lakes-are-vanishing-satellite-images-show-a-deepening-water-crisis-2