Yet the world is not static, but experiencing dynamic and often rapid changes in demographics and environmental conditions. The fundamental concept, now widely accepted, is that political instability and violence, especially at the local or regional level, are extensively influenced by economic, demographic, and social factors that are themselves sensitive to resource and environmental conditions.Įven in a static world, conditions and challenges in major international river basins would persist. These included environmental threats such as energy security and oil transfers, transboundary environmental pollution, conflicts over water resources, and the potential impacts of climate change. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, military and academic experts concerned about international security and conflict began to shift their focus from realpolitik and superpower politics to an evaluation of other threats to national and international stability. Such pressures have the potential to explode into violent conflict. These constraints, coupled with growing populations and economies, are putting more and more pressure on natural water resources, even in regions where they were previously considered abundant. Yet freshwater resources are limited, unevenly distributed in space and time, increasingly contaminated or overused, and poorly managed. Global and regional water challengesįresh water is vital for all human economic and social activities, from the production of food and energy, to support for industrial development, to the maintenance of natural ecosystems. and its allies must develop and employ a wide variety of instruments to reduce instability and the risk of conflict related to growing water problems, before military intervention is needed. ![]() The failure to address water problems through diplomacy will lead to new and growing security risks, including for the U.S. In coming years, new factors, including rising populations, industrial and agricultural demand for water, human-induced climate change, and political uncertainties make it increasingly urgent that solutions to water tensions be found and implemented. ![]() The links between water and conflict have been the subject of extensive analysis for several decades, beginning with the development of the literature on “ environmental security” and water conflicts in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Islamic State has reportedly used water as a weapon, depriving communities in Mosul of access to a water supply, and control over water facilities has been used repeatedly, worsening access to safe water for civilian populations.įresh water has long been a vital and necessary natural resource, and it has long been a source of tension, a military tool, and a target during war. Four and a half millennia later, water remains an instrument of coercion and a source of tensions and conflict. This act, in a region corresponding to parts of modern day Iraq, Syria, and southern Turkey, was the first recorded political and military dispute over water resources. ![]() The failure to address water problems through diplomacy will lead to new and growing security risks, including for the U.S.Īround 2500 BC, Urlama, the King of the city-state of Lagash, diverted water from boundary irrigation canals between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to deprive a neighboring region, Umma, of water.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |