The natural setting, on the eastern slopes of the Andes, encompasses the upper Amazon basin with its rich diversity of flora and fauna.

UNESCO: MEDIA SERVICES

Water experts applaud the new policy, saying it puts a proper emphasis on conservation: lower-basin states must now pay attention to the water they have, instead of plotting to get still more from the upper-basin states.

ECONOMIST: Water in the West: Buying a gulp of the Colorado | The

It covers an area roughly half the size of France within the Upper Paraguay River Basin, extending over the border into Paraguay and Bolivia.

BBC: Brazil��s land of the jaguar

Nancy Rabalais, executive director of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium and an expert on dead zones who didn't participate in the study, said its findings are consistent with climate change scenarios she projects for the upper Mississippi River basin, where flooding caused high algae concentrations two years ago.

NPR: Report Predicts Ever-Bigger Lake Erie Algae Blooms

BC, on the upper reaches of the Euphrates basin, Anatolian peoples such as the Hurrites and the Hittites met, fought, conquered or were conquered by local tribes and outposts of the Mesopotamian empires, leaving behind hordes of artefacts that are still being found today.

ECONOMIST: Pigs and whistles from the Euphrates

Heading west from the park, pick up afternoon treats at New York iconic Zabar's food market (2245 Broadway), and later, as dusk unfolds, meander the serene firefly-flecked Riverside Park amid the Upper West Side's manifold joggers, strollers and dog owners, to the stunning outdoor 79th Street Boat Basin Cafe (W 79th St at the Hudson River) for a huckleberry vodka nightcap.

BBC: Summer in the city: New York