Water security and peace: a synthesis of studies ... - unesdoc - Unesco

professional team is imbued with emotive ethical notions and personal strategic,
social, and economic outlooks. Mistrust, grievances, and enmities are obstacles to
resolving water conflicts, which are often embedded in a historical context of
emotional dimension. Incentives for cooperation must involve reconciliatory
mechanisms to sustain a positive milieu for dialogue.
Incentives for the resolution of water conflicts and the promotion of cooperation
will fail if they are solely focused on water rights, legal obligations, or history. Nor
should they be restricted to the overall advantages of cooperation. Instead they
should extend to consideration of tactical actions that, if taken, in the long term will
institutionalize cooperation.
3.5. Partnerships for Peace
Peacemaking is not a process limited to the work of governments. Important as that
work is, it depends in fundamental ways on changes in human relationships, an arena
well beyond the reach of governments alone. Ministers responsible for water affairs
are not necessarily representatives of their governments as a whole or of public
opinion. However they are well placed to transmit their views to the ministerial
cabinets of their countries and to engage ministers of information, education, and
culture, university professors, research institutions, NGOs, and grass-root associations
and alliances to work with them to mobilize public support, disseminate information,
and implement change.
Any change imposed from the top will be short-lived, unless it entails a
mechanism to win the support of the public regardless of the political configuration of
the state. Incentives for cooperation must thus realistically work both with
governments and the public as individuals in organized movements or groups whose
ideas and arguments are largely inseparable from an emotional ingredient. The
incentives must be also elements of an integrated long-term vision based on the fruits
of cooperation. More is said on this subject in Section 6.
Professionals have a leading role to play along with diplomats, policy makers,
and legislators. A partnership between professionals and the public is essential for
promoting cooperation. The professionals form the bridge between government and
the public. Professionals in turn need academic and social incentives to encourage
them to cooperate with other professionals to meet the demands of integrated
management of international and national water resources.
UNESCO and other international organizations also have to define their role.
Perhaps they could develop an integrated package that countries can use to generate
a national discourse on water for peace and prosperity. This integrated package would
involve strategies, procedures, and educational material to engage the media,
ministers, universities and research institutions, schools, children, and communities to
debate, discuss, and develop national programs.
Although women are the main users and managers of water, they are often left
out of the decision-making and planning processes. Many of our problems and wrong
decisions occur because humanity has advanced technologically faster than biological
changes required in humans to cope with the new environment the species has
created. Men took most of the decisions that have created our problems. One solution
(other than biological engineering of humans to create a species that is adapted to our
environment) would be to put women in the positions of responsibility. Certainly
women appear to be much more socially adept than men. And they to a large extent
determine the values that are taught to the next generation. Perhaps in the end it is
by teaching our children a system of moral principles for individual, community, and
international behavior based on the shared fundamental human values of justice and
equity that will build this world of Water Peace.
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