The Global Water Crisis: Addressing an Urgent Security - Unu-inweh ...

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1. Water Security as a National Political Issue Grey and Sadoff (2007: 546) define water security as “harnessing the productive potential of water and limiting its destructive impact”. Water security has emerged as a crisis of global proportions, with major implications for national and regional stability and conflict. Furthermore, water security is a decisive component of social and political security. This cannot be truer than in the WANA region, where most of the countries are situated in a semi-arid to arid climatic zone where more than 60% of the renewable water resources in the region are shared by one or more countries. Despite warnings by regional experts that the wars of the 21 st century will be fought over water (WANA Forum, 2010a), in the Arab-Israeli wars of 1967 and 1978, and in the tension between Lebanon and Israel in 2002 and the subsequent war in 2006, water was the primary cause. In the absence of peace, and continual disregard of international humanitarian law, water security is leading to increased tensions, instability and conflict. Examples of water conflicts in the following river basins in the WANA region have already been experienced: • Syria - Turkey - Iraq (Euphrates and Tigris rivers) • Israel - Jordan - Palestine (Jordan River, Dead Sea) • Israel - Palestine (groundwater aquifers of Occupied Territories) • Jordan - Saudi Arabia (Al-Disi Aquifer) • Syria - Jordan (Yarmouk River) • Egypt - Sudan - Ethiopia (among 10 countries sharing the Nile River) • Iran - Afghanistan (Hirmand River) Each of the countries in the region considers water security to be of national concern. For example, water security is key to establishing peace between the Palestinians and Israelis. As expressed by Nabil Al Sharif, former Minister of the Palestinian Water Authority: “There will be no real peace if there is no water. If there is no water, I don’t think any agreement of peace will live more than two or three years” (Vigotti and Hoffman, 2009). To shed light on the seriousness of the conflict over water in the region, in June 2002, Lebanon restarted new infrastructure works to connect 60 communities to running water for domestic use, supplying them with 10,000 m³ of water for domestic purposes a day (or 3.65 million m³ a year). For Israel, these unilateral Lebanese acts were a violation of international law and a threat to the water security of their country. Lebanon, referring to the 1953 Johnston Plan which granted Lebanon 35 million m³ of the Jordan (Hasbani) River headwaters (Abujaber, 1989) argued that the move was in accordance with the principle of equitability in its water share, and was therefore in accordance with international water law. Israel however, feeling threatened that their water security was at risk even when the amount of water used by the Lebanese is less than 0.5% of the Israeli’s annual water consumption, was ready to take up arms to stop the measures taken by Lebanon. The case was brought before the United Nations, and only through intervention by ambassadors of the European Union and UN officials to deter possible Israeli attacks during the inauguration of the project was the matter closed. It is painfully clear to see the importance of water to the countries in the region and how conflict over water can easily escalate already tense relationships. Governments of the region have now realized the shortcomings of having limited supplies of renewable water resources that have reached their physical limit. Since the year 2000, governments have begun to pay more attention to the development of water policies in line with the internationally recognized Integrated Water Resources Management approach (IWRM), with longer planning horizons to cope with the expected water deficit challenge. Even though regional governments have endorsed the recommendation from the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) to articulate IWRM as a management option by formulating their own water resources management plans (Arab Water Council et al., 2005), few countries have yet to create sufficient capacity to implement these plans. Furthermore, short-term fragmented management through the adoption of water policies that focus on meeting demand should be replaced with flexible policies coordinated with agricultural, financial, social, environmental, energy, urban, trade, and industrial policies. This should lead to water sustainability, ecosystem protection, and adaptation to the impacts of climate change. The past explicit or implicit water policies in the region between 1960-2000 have largely focused on addressing water resources scarcity by meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) targets, specifically through securing adequate water supplies and sanitation services, especially in urban areas and through expansion of irrigation schemes that have led to extensive groundwater mining. However, this will not be sufficient for ensuring sustainable development and water security in the region, and a more integrated approach will be needed. 48 The Global Water Crisis: Addressing an Urgent Security Issue
2. Water in the WANA Region 2.1. Demographic and economic conditions Currently, the total population of the WANA region stands at about 500 million (UNDP, 2008; World Bank, 2007). The average annual rate of population growth is 2.6%, although it varies from one country to another. The highest growth rate is 6.5% in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the lowest is 1.1% in Iran. The urban proportion of the total population is 55%, although it varies widely between states and is at more than 80% in Bahrain, Djibouti, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya and Saudi Arabia, and less than 40% in Comoros, Somalia and Yemen. The average gross domestic product (GDP) in the Arab states is US $1.043 billion, or US $1.915 billion in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP). The corresponding per capita values are US $3,659 and US $6,716, respectively. However, these averages hide the fact that the GDP per capita is significantly higher in oil states compared to non-oil states. For non-oil states, the per capita GDP varies between US $700 and US $1,800, while the highest GDP of the oil states is US $6,716. The average Human Development Index (HDI) scores low at about 0.7, with 13 of 26 countries above this average. Although data on the Human Poverty Index is limited, the average rate of poverty is 38%. Poverty values of less than 10% are reported for Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar and UAE (UNDP, 2008). 2.2. The sharing of water resources Many of the countries in the WANA region share their primary surface and underground water resources. The UNDP 2006 Human Development Report (HDR) states that Iraq and Syria obtain between 50-75% of their water from rivers outside their national borders, while Egypt gets 75% of its water from outside its borders (UNDP, 2006). As stated in the HDR: “Managing shared water can be a force for peace or for conflict, but it is politics that will decide which course is chosen” (UNDP, 2006: 203). If no action is taken or efforts are made to enable cooperation, tension over water is likely to increase in the future. The sharing of water resources between nations in the region underlines not only the importance of knowledge sharing, understanding regional groupings and common approaches to IWRM, but equally the importance of international legal frameworks that codify interaction and can both enable and inhibit cooperation over resources. More often than not, water is treated legally at a national level, and it is this mentality that must be changed if water management is to be addressed between nation-states. International instruments, such as the UN Watercourses Convention, can serve as a precedent for legal cooperation between states. For example, UN Resolution A/RES/63/124 on transboundary aquifers (United Nations General Assembly, 2009) is a non-binding agreement between states that “encourages the States concerned to make appropriate bilateral or regional arrangements for the proper management of their transboundry aquifers, taking into account the provisions of these articles” (United Nations General Assembly, 2009: 1). Based on such international legal precedence, there exists the possibility for states to cooperate at a regional level, supported by international legal frameworks that can be developed and built upon in unison. The legal frameworks that exist in Europe, such as the Danube River Basin or the EU Water Framework Directive that regulates all member countries (Kaika, 2003), can also serve as examples of political-economic integration at an institutional level, developing the necessary legal frameworks that facilitate cooperation over various resources. The regional dimensions of water management can be better served by improved communication between water experts and policy-makers and diplomats in a manner that is both comprehensible and politically practical. Science must inform decision-makers of the factual and academic-led dimensions of water security to help them make better decisions, while decision-makers have a responsibility to inform scientists of the practical realities and guidance needed to realize change at the policy level. Fundamental, sweeping change can only come about through cooperation between science and politics that works in unison with societal change. 3. The WANA Forum: Water Management in the WANA Region At the consultative meeting for the West Asia and North Africa (WANA) Forum in February 2010, water experts discussed regional challenges and opportunities in water management. These include the necessary political and legal frameworks, financing, technology, and institutional development, each of which is discussed briefly here. In each instance, the Water and Political Security: Conflict in West Asia and North Africa Part 1 49
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The Global Water Crisis: Addressing
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About the InterAction Council Estab
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Acknowledgements
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Foreword
Page 11 and 12: The undeniable seriousness of the g
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Page 16 and 17: The Global Water Crisis: Framing th
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Page 25 and 26: Introduction Since the serious stat
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Page 31 and 32: References Cullen, H., 2010. The We
Page 33 and 34: Introduction Water is an integral p
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Page 37 and 38: summer months. To alleviate the con
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Page 41 and 42: Introduction Water, economic and en
Page 43 and 44: Economic analyses of ecosystem good
Page 45 and 46: • Managing for sustainability. De
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Page 49 and 50: Introduction Water is an essential
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Page 55 and 56: Renaud et al. (2011) proposed a pre
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Page 67 and 68: Below are some suggestions for how
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Page 73 and 74: Introduction “The trouble with wa
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Page 77 and 78: 60,000 ventilation improved pit lat
Page 79 and 80: 5. The Bottom Line It is widely ack
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Page 106 and 107: References Checkley, W., G. Buckley
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one and has yet to attain widesprea
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2.5 Investing in Women’s Particip
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of agriculture resulting mainly fro
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their substantial contribution is p
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Although cultural constraints still
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UNEP, 2009. Water Security and Ecos
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2.6 Water Governance Reform in Afgh
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1.2. The Extreme risk of food secur
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Furthermore, within each basin, lan
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3.2. Early doubts vis-à-vis progre
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transboundary water management conc
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3 Will the Right to Water Alleviate
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Introduction A growing number of ar
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2. Ethical Perspectives on State Ob
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References Barlow, Maude, 2007. Blu
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Introduction It is widely recognize
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Later in 2010, the UN Human Rights
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3.2. Legislative Recognition Dozens
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Mandela, M., 2002. No Water, No Fut
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Introduction South Africans have a
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water per person per day. The appli
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References Bluemel, E. B., 2004.
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Introduction Water conflicts are nu
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4. Water Policies and Their Impact
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y its interconnection to encompass
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Access to Water and Conflict: An In
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Response from the InterAction Counc
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As former U.S. President Mr. Bill C
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The InterAction Council Québec Dec
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List of Participants
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List of Participants: 29 th Annual
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