Conflict and Water

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Further Readings, References, Links

Reports

Conclusions: Water, energy and environmental sustainability in Central Asia are inseparably interlinked and have very significant region-wide dimensions that call for regionally coordinated action.First, uncoordinated and competing priorities for water use between upstream and downstream riparian states along the major trans-boundary rivers waste finite water resources, invite investments that are suboptimal from a regional perspective, increase the level of tension and risk of conflict between countries and local communities, and exacerbate the degradation of other environmental assets such as land, forests and wildlife.Second, perverse agricultural policies and wasteful irrigation and drainage management practices are at the core of the region’s water problems and cause substantial losses in agricultural productivity.
  • International Crisis Group - Central Asia: Water and Conflict, Asia Report N°34, 30 May 2002 [1]

Farmers, hydropower generators, recreational users, and ecosystems often compete for finite water supplies, both within and between nations.

This issues brief aims to provide an introductory understanding of the relationship between water and violent conflict.

Journal articles/ Academic papers

The notion of environmental and resource conflicts has received much attention in political debates lately.

This paper addresses potentially violent conflict over our water rights—inherent individual and communal rights that are being eroded by a recent trend to privatize water resources.

The Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database provides a framework forquantitative, global-scale explorations of the relationship between freshwater resourcesand international cooperation and conflict.

Climatic and environmental changes and a rising water demand have increased the competition over water resources and have made cooperation between countries that share a transboundary river an important issue in water resources management and hydropolitics.

Despite the growing literature on water and conflict in international river basins, little empirical work has been done to bolster common conclusions which are so widely reported.

The rhetorical question posed in the title to this paper reflects the concern felt by largenumbers of individuals and institutions in southern Africa.

While the literature about the likelihood of an acute conflict over freshwater resources continues to grow, little work has been done to identify key drivers of such conflict and to establish indicators of water conflict potential.

Water security of riparian states in the Euphrates-Tigris Basin is increasingly under threat.

The aim of this study is to analyse why and under what conditions cooperation between Israel and the Palestinians and between Israel and Jordan has taken place and how it has functioned in the water sector.

Powerpoint

Intra-state conflicts resolution between local communities and central government, Namibia cases

Background to water resources management in Namibia, factors contributing to water conflicts, addressing the water conflicts, case studies: Kuiseb Basin, Cuvelai Basin.


Newspaper Articles

BBC:Middle East water crisis warning, 11 April 2008

Ban Ki-moon warns that water shortages are increasingly driving conflicts‎, 6 February 2008

At World Economic Forum, Ban Ki-moon pledges action on water resources, 24 January 2008

A Climate Culprit In Darfur, June 16 2007

UN attacks climate change as threat to peace, 17 april 2007

How To Avoid War Over Water August 2006

Dehydrating Conflict Sept-Oct 2001


Examples

Africa

  • Hershkowitz, Ann The Tuareg in Mali and Niger: The Role of Desertification in Violent Conflict, ICE Case Studies Number 151, August 2005.[2]
  • Mbonile, Milline J. Population, Migration and Water Conflicts in the Pangani River Basin, Tanzania, ECSP Report, Issue 12, 2006- 2007 [3]
  • Meier, Patrick & Bond, Doug Environmental Influences on Pastoral Conflict in the Horn of Africa, Center for the Study of Civil War, December 2007. [4]
  • Milani, Kathryn Darfur: Drought and Civil War, ICE Case Studies Number 196, Fall, 2006.[5]
  • Drought and Conflict in the West African Sahel: Developing Conflict Management Strategies. Event summary. [6]

Anthony Nyong of the University of Jos, Nigeria, discusses the relationship between drought and conflict in the West African Sahel at a Wilson Center event co-sponsored by the Environmental Change and Security Program and the Africa Program. October 18 2005.

  • Nyung, Anthony Climate Related Conflicts in West Africa, ECSP Report, Issue 12, 2006-2007[7]
  • University for Peace, Environmental Degredation as a cause of conflict in Darfur [8], Conference Report, December 2004.


More on the general links between Environment and Conflict

  • ENCOP - CSS Environment and Conflicts Project [9]


Websites

  • EEC Platform - Environment, Conflict, and Cooperation Platform [10]
  • ICE Database- Inventory of Conflict & Environment Database, (Last updated May 2007) ICE case studies


Conflict Analysis

Indexes

  • The Global Peace Index - Vision of Humanity website [11]

The Economist Intelligence Unit, in conjunction with an international team of academics and peace experts, has compiled an innovative new Global Peace Index (GPI), which ranks 121 nations according to their relative peacefulness. The Global Peace Index is composed of 24 indicators, ranging from a nation’s level of military expenditure to its relations with neighbouring countries and the level of respect for human rights. Link to 2007 rankings

The HDI – human development index – is a summary composite index that measures a country's average achievements in three basic aspects of human development: health, knowledge, and a decent standard of living. Health is measured by life expectancy at birth; knowledge is measured by a combination of the adult literacy rate and the combined primary, secondary, and tertiary gross enrolment ratio; and standard of living by GDP per capita (PPP US$). Link to 2007/08 rankings

  • The Failed States Index(FSI)

The 2007 Failed States Index (FSI) ranks 177 countries based on their social, economic, and political pressures. See rankings in the Fund for Peaceand Foreign Policy Magazine

  • UK Department of International Development (DFID), 2005 Proxy List of Fragile States [12]

LICUS are characterized by weak policies, institutions, and governance. The Bank identified 25 of these countries in fiscal year 2005. Concern is growing about the ability of these countries to reach development goals as well as about the adverse economic effects they have on neighboring countries and the global spillovers that may follow. Link to interactive map of LICUS countries


Conflict Prevention

  • European Commission Check-list for Root Causes of Conflict [14]
  • International Crisis Group, Crisiswatch

- CrisisWatch [15] is a 12-page monthly bulletin designed to provide busy readers in the policy community, media, business and interested general public with a succinct regular update on the state of play in all the most significant situations of conflict or potential conflict around the world. Link to the 1 April 2008 issue:CrisisWatch no56

- CrisisWatch Database[16] You can you use the CrisisWatch database to follow developments in any conflict situation covered by CrisisWatch for any month from 1 September 2003. The database contains the entries from the current and all past editions of CrisisWatch.

  • Heidelberg Institute of International Conflict Research, Database on violent and non-violent conflicts, FIRST[17]

Facts on International Relations and Security Trends (FIRST) is a free-of-charge service for politicians, journalists, researchers and the interested public. FIRST is a joint project of the International Relations and Security Network (ISN) and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The integrated database system contains clearly documented information from research institutes around the world. It covers areas in the field of international relations and security, such as hard facts on armed conflicts and peace keeping, arms production and trade, military expenditure, armed forces and conventional weapons holding, nuclear weapons, chronology, statistics and other reference data.

  • Swisspeace's Early Warning Program - FAST International.

FAST International was operational from 1998-2008 and covered 25 countries or regions in Africa, Asia and Europe. It was aimed at enhancing the ability of decision makers and their staff in state and non-state institutions to identify critical developments in a timely manner so that coherent political strategies could be formulated to either prevent or limit destructive effects of violent conflicts, or to identify windows of opportunity for peacebuilding. You will find former FAST products in the FAST archiv.

  • FEWER International [18]- forum on early warning and early response.

FEWER International is a global coalition of non-governmental and governmental agencies and academic institutions working to promote co-ordinated responses to violent conflict. It has regional offices in Nairobi and Moscow, supporting activities in Africa and Eurasia respectively.


See also..

  • International Crisis Group, Early Warning Resources, for list of websites that offer early warning information and conflict trend analyses.
  • United States Institute of Peace (USIP)[19]

- The USIP crafted a 'Strategic Framework: Fragile States and Societies Emerging from Conflict.

These broad guidelines are meant to be useful to (and ideally shared by) all the actors involved in post-conflict situations (i.e., military, government, NGO, IGO, private sector, and host nation leaders). Peacebuilding Toolkit August 2007.

- Goldstone, Jack A. Using Quantitative and Qualitative Models to Forecast Instability, Special Report 204, March 2008.

This report was commissioned by USIP for its ongoing project examining new approaches to early warning for political instability and mass violence. Drawing on his experience in developing and using qualitative structural analogy models and quantitative statistical models (including for the Political Instability Task Force), Jack Goldstone provides practical guidance on how different models can be used together to generate more accurate forecasts.[20]



AIACC- Assessments of Impacts and Adaptations to Climate Change

Climate change

Climate Change and Adaptation

HDR 2006 - Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis

IPCC- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Millennium Development Goals and Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

Prevention, minimization and resolution of conflict in local water management projects

Water as a Human Right?

1952 Rating: 3.3/5 (8 votes cast)

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