Introduction: Water Security – International Conflict and Cooperation Introduction – Security and Its Relation to Water (original) (raw)
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Water: A Major Stake of Conflicts in the Twenty-First Century
Open Journal of Social Sciences, 2021
The need to ensure freshwater security remains sacrosanct to the survival and security of humanity. While various studies on water security continue to draw the world's attention to future threats and risks against humanity's better survival and security-following the current management of our various waterways. It is in this light that this paper proposes to explain why access to water may well be a major stake of conflicts in this 21st century. After debate and discussion, the results that emerge from this paper show that the multiplication of threats arising from climate change, which continues to worsen in this century, coupled with the hybrid policies and activities of various actors at stake, and combined with the singular characteristics of water-including, notably, a resource that guarantees our existence, a scarce resource, an unevenly distributed resource, and a resource that is shared among several states, nationalities and social categories-emerge two fundamental implications. The first is that of the great need for cooperation between riparian states, nationalities and various social categories; and the second is that exhibits the great likelihood of conflicts between them-to the competing uses of the shared water resource and the conquering spirits of one another. By using a few cases of bellicose rhetoric on the Tigris-Euphrates, Jordan, Indus, Syr-Daria, Nile, Congo, Colorado and Rio Grande watersheds, this paper makes a bitter observation of the predominant tendency of the second implication-the conflictual one-over the first-the cooperative one-in this twenty-first century that ostensibly denotes that water should be taken seriously as a major stake of conflicts in this century. Thus, this paper considers that it is important and time for humanity to promote transboundary water cooperation between states and nationalities of shared river basins; and integrated water management in the steps of good governance at all levels, in the sense of avoiding a flare-up of the situation and limiting to the maximum a worsening where the violins do not agree anymore.
Water Security: genealogy of a new paradigm for water
Over the last decade, the “water security” concept has emerged from its originary niche in studies of international security and hydropolitics to become much more widely used. Indeed, in some quarters, particularly official state ones, it seems even to be supplanting the hegemonic position hitherto occupied by the “sustainable water” concept.
Water, International Peace, and Security
2010
Water scarcity, accelerated by climate change, affects water availability and may threaten peace and security. This role of water, as a contributing factor for triggering wars, sheds light on the significance of the protection of water during armed conflict. Keeping water out of war not only contributes to preserving an indispensable natural resource for life but also serves as a tool for the hostile parties to start negotiations, building trust and peace.
Water and International Security
In this paper prepared for the 2nd Meeting of the Study Group on Water Resources and presented to delegates from the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific (CSCAP), I discuss the interactions between International Security and Water Security. My reference point is the Mekong River Basin - in particular the hydropower dams that are planned for, and have already been built on the Mekong mainstream. I argue that the desire to build hydropower dams in order to create foreign income is short-sighted in that it risks negatively impacting on the relationships between the Mekong's riparian states as well as the millions of people who live on and around the river, reliant on its resources for their subsistence and livelihoods.
Documents d'Anàlisi Geogràfica, 2014
Tensions and conflicts over water use are increasingly common, as a result of both high water scarcity and high water demand. The use of water resources generates political disputes between countries sharing waters within their borders. This paper aims to discuss water security and the interstate conflict and cooperation that can result from it. It is based on an interdisciplinary literature review that aims to contribute to the development of studies on transboundary water policies, encompassing concepts such as water security, water justice and water governance. This article aims to grasp the problems involved in the conflicts and cooperation on shared use of transboundary water resources. It is divided in the following parts: water and international politics; international security, environmental security and water security; and interstate water conflicts and cooperation in the use of shared water resources. Cooperation in the use of transboundary waters might spare distributive conflicts on water use. In situations of scarcity, policies should prioritize human and animal watering, which might relieve water supply issues between riparian countries. On the other hand, water abundance may end up creating more tensions than water shortages, since disputes over its use might emerge instead of cooperation favoring interstate security.