Image: cawater-info.net
The prediction that water will outstrip oil — and every other scarce natural resource — as a factor in global conflict has been around for a long time. After all, without water, everybody and everything dies. There is no substitute for it. Among water-stressed regions, where is conflict likely to strike, and when? In many places, it’s already happening.
Conflict is widespread and ongoing because it can take many forms besides all-out war. In some areas, competition over water may be at the root of tensions between warring factions, though not the only cause. In certain conflicts, water resources may be military or terrorist targets, either to capture or to destroy as a way of hurting the enemy. Elsewhere, protests over water shortages resulting from perceived mismanagement can erupt in violence. The Pacific Institute studies these issues; the conflict chronology at the link below is especially interesting because it shows the whole gamut of water-related struggles.
A useful backgrounder on water-related conflict can be found in Suzanne Goldenberg’s recent piece for The Guardian, also linked below. It identifies six “regions at risk,” due to extreme drought and/or tension over shared resources: California, Brazil, Middle East (Iran, United Arab Emirates, Jordan), North Africa (Egypt and Ethiopia), South Asia (eastern Pakistan, northern India), and China. Stephen Leahy’s IPS article and Giulio Boccaletti’s op-ed for The Nature Conservancy further fill in the picture and scope of global water (in)security.
Read more:
Why global water shortages pose threat of terror and war – The Guardian
In an increasingly unpredictable world, we must secure nature to secure our water – The Nature Conservancy
Water crisis hitting food, energy — and everything else – IPS
Pacific Institute: water and conflict
Pacific Institute: water conflict chronology
Related posts:
Past, Present and Future: California’s Epic Struggle With Water
At the Waterline 