![[DRC] The River Ruzizi cuts its way through the valley floor of mountains between Bukavu and Kamanyola, South Kivu Province, eastern DRC. The river separates Rwanda, with town in the background, and DRC.
(Date: 18 July 2004)](https://assets.thenewhumanitarian.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_large_2x/public/images/200472310.jpg.webp?itok=LISP1Y_5 "The River Ruzizi cuts its way through the valley floor of mountains between Bukavu and Kamanyola, South Kivu Province, eastern DRC. The river separates Rwanda, and DRC, and many people from both nations depend upon it for their livelihoods")
Increasingly, warnings are heard that such is the need for water and such is the parlous state of shared water resources that future wars will be fought over water. Violent conflicts that have their roots in water disputes, especially within states, are ongoing in the world today. Ironically, the word 'rival' historically originates from 'those who share the same river'.
However, others argue that instead of inciting people to war, interdependence on water can be a catalyst for peace. Kader Asmal, chairman of the World Commission on Dams, said that "there is not a shred of evidence" that wars will be fought over water. Tony Allen, a professor at Kings College and School of Oriental and African Studies in London, told IRIN that the absence of even a single armed conflict over water since the 1960s showed that "the 'water war' is a stupid idea".
Researchers at Oregon State University have disputed Allen's claims. Their Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database revealed there were 507 disputes over water during the second half of the twentieth century. Only 37 of these were violent, and as many as 30 of them were between Israel and one of its neighbours. At the same time, there have been 1,228 agreements, or other cooperative arrangements. The number of peaceful and accommodating events thus largely outnumbers the violent ones. And it is not only peaceful countries that sign treaties and share water. Countries currently at war keep up cooperation regarding water.
Other researchers argued the last real water wars occurred 4,500 years ago between the city-states Lagash and Umma in Mesopotamia. No war has actually been fought over water since then, they said.
As water is so essential, people and states are forced to cooperate, since the contrary would have devastating results. There are several different approaches to water cooperation: The Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database evaluates 'water events' on a scale from -7 to +7. The negative side is for conflicts, and the positive for cooperation, including both verbal and technological support, as well as treaties and alliances. Minus 7 represents a total breakdown of negotiation and resorting to hostilities. The majority of events involving water, hostile or cooperative, are in the range of -2 and 2, meaning they are solely verbal, with no aggressive or antagonistic actions taken.
Water treaties
There are 263 transboundary river basins in the world, and in most of these regions people cooperate peacefully without formal treaties to stipulate the terms and rules of resource sharing. Treaties can be necessary in some cases, however, especially regarding larger river basins shared by more than two riparian states.
Several water treaties have either helped stabilise a region or at least continued to function in spite of hostilities. Aaron Wolf, director of the Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database, said water concerns "gives people a reason to talk even during wars. It works as a vehicle for dialogue."
For example, the Indus River was once a 'domestic' river in British India but later became a transnational river through both India and Pakistan. Through the Indus Water Treaty and the Indus Commission, the two countries continued talks and cooperation from 1960 onwards. Even during the Indo-Pakistani wars of 1965 and 1971 talks were held through the Indus Commission, and a dispute about whether India was giving Pakistan enough water was solved by negotiations and the help of 'neutral experts' as stipulated in the Indus Water Treaty.
Another example is the cooperation around the Mekong River. The Mekong Committee was formed in 1957, with Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam as permanent members and China and Burma as indirect members. Contrary to most other water treaties, this agreement was not the result of an earlier conflict, but a way to get guidelines for future cooperation. There was also assistance from the United Nations and the United States. The committee was most active during its early years, when many studies planning different projects were conducted. With the help of resources from international donors, agriculture, fishing and the potential of electric power were investigated and extensive mapping of the area begun. Since the Mekong basin is a very well-watered region, it is considered unlikely that any disputes would result in conflict, as there is little risk of any absolute shortage of water for any of the states involved. The risk of conflict is far higher in drought-prone regions, where the absence of water is literally a question of life and death for people, communities and livelihoods.
Through the cooperation in the Mekong Committee, Thailand and Laos also came to an agreement about the Lao Nam Ngum River. Thailand was in great need of electricity, and Laos had the resource potential but not the means to build a hydroelectric power station. With support from Thailand, the plant was constructed, and Laos could sell electricity to Thailand.
Because the Mekong treaty stipulated that representatives from each of the four permanent members had to participate in all meetings, the committee transformed into an interim committee from 1978 to 1991, when Cambodia did not participate. The remaining three countries continued to meet for advisory sessions throughout that period. After Cambodia returned to the committee in 1991, a new treaty was negotiated. In 1995, the Mekong River Commission was created.
The current Mekong River Commission, however, has encountered more problems since the upstream riparian China - not a member of the commission - started planning dams and hydroelectric power stations that will have a direct impact on all the downstream states. Approximately 60 million people depend on the Mekong River for food and water.
A reason to communicate
The Jordan River offers another example of a watercourse situated in a troubled part of the world. Divided between Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, the water of the Jordan River has been the focus of many disputes. The use of water from the Jordan is so extensive that the Dead Sea's depth is shrinking by almost a metre per year.
Approximately 90 percent of the river's water is diverted and used for irrigation and drinking, mostly by Israel, but also by Jordan and Syria. During the 1950s and 1980s, there were several attempts to come to an agreement about the usage of the water, but no treaty was signed. However, representatives did agree on a draft plan that was accepted by all sides. It was only due to the fact that the Arab states perceived signing such an agreement as an indirect way to recognise the state of Israel that the treaty was not signed. Most countries, nonetheless, have followed the water-allocation proportions suggested in the plan by and large, and informal 'picnic-table' meetings have been held every year with representatives of the riparian states. During the dry months, when the Jordan River is even more important then other times, these meetings have been as frequent as every two weeks.
During the peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation in 1995, as well as between Israel and Jordan in 1994, water was a crucial issue. Both these peace treaties include specific chapters on the use of water from the Jordan River, as well as the use of water from the Yarmuk and groundwater in the case of the treaty with Jordan.
Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority also cooperate on other water projects, such as the Two Seas Canal. It is prospected to provide the area with potable drinking water as well as restore the water level in the Dead Sea. Environmentalists, however, have criticised the project for the negative impact it might have on the region.
Israel has also signed bilateral treaties with the Palestine Authority and Jordan, in 1995 and 1994, respectively.
Sharing water, sharing energy
Renewable energy, such as hydroelectricity, is often seen as the only opportunity for developing countries to electrify their countries. According to World Bank estimates, hydropower today amounts to approximately 19 percent of the world's electricity. Their research also shows that the remaining exploitable potential for hydroelectricity is 5,400 TWh * per year, and that at least 90 percent of this is in developing countries. This is a substantial amount of energy - as a comparison, the whole of the US uses only 3,900 TWh per year, and the United Kingdom less than 400 TWh/year. There is, therefore, a great potential for developing countries to electrify larger areas domestically, as well as to export cost-efficient energy to neighbours with a larger appetite for electricity.
There are certain problems for developing countries in their attempts to extract this energy. First, the lack of resources to finance such infrastructure, and, second, that watercourses most often are shared between countries and depended upon for people's daily lives. Cooperation between possible beneficiaries is hence vital for the development of industrialising countries.
The Lesotho Highlands Water Project is an example of water-and-energy-related cooperation. The tiny country of Lesotho is totally enclosed by South Africa. It is poor in most ways, but rich in water. South Africa needed water, and in 1978 the governments of the two countries set up a joint technical team to investigate the possibility of Lesotho exporting water to South Africa. In 1986, the final report from a second study was completed, and the Treaty on the Lesotho Highlands Water Project between the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho and the Government of the Republic of South Africa was signed.
Through this agreement, South Africa invests in the Lesotho infrastructure and buys reasonably priced water, while Lesotho benefits from investments and hydropower. The Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database concluded their study of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project that "it is testimony to the resilience of these arrangements, that no significant changes were made despite the … dramatic political shift in South Africa."
The Rusumo Falls Hydroelectric Project in Kagera River is another interesting energy project on its way in Africa. It is one of 22 potential water and/or energy projects researched by the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI). NBI is a cooperative body for riparian states in the Nile Basin. Their objective is to achieve sustainable socioeconomic development through cooperative and efficient use of the common Nile basin water resources. Power and water exchange are the most common among these projects.
The planned hydrostation at Rusumo Falls is a joint project between Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania. Once operational, it will be able to provide thousands of people with low-cost power, according to one of the feasibility studies. Today, only around 2 percent of the households in this region have access to electricity, and the country average for both Burundi and Rwanda is less than 5 percent. The average for Tanzania is approximately 10 percent. Supported by international donors such as the African Development Bank, the European Union and the governments of Sweden and Norway, the Rusumo Falls Project has already been approved by the eight other Nile countries that are not directly involved in the project, as well as the ministers of energy in Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania. Further feasibility studies are planned to commence in the end of 2006.
Lack of clean water is the real problem
Aaron Wolf told IRIN that the focus on 'water wars' is misguided and will actually do more harm than help. "The real problem in the world today is that people are dying from lack of clean water and proper sanitation. That is the humanitarian crisis that the world should focus on," he said. "On the international level, we will see an increasing amount of treaties and negotiations, and that will help avoid international conflicts. But on a more local level, the human suffering will continue."
The additional strain on water resources due to population growth and the subsequent increase in food production is yet another piece of evidence that cooperation over water will be more and more important in the future.
The 2004 UN report 'Water: A Shared Responsibility' stated, "At the same time, competition for water is also manifested in the demands between different users - urban versus rural, present uses versus future demands, competing regions, water quantity versus water quality and water concerns versus other social priorities."
Thus, cooperation is necessary not only between, but also within, states. The importance of jointly managing the world's water resources is being emphasised by many experts, including Wolf. It is time to realise that water is not an endless resource, and global cooperation is needed to protect it.
* TWh = Terawatt hour and therefore 10 to the power of twelve. In terms of magnitude this is above the GWh (gigawatt-hours) category which is above the MWh (megawatt-hour) level.
ab/cmh/le
However, others argue that instead of inciting people to war, interdependence on water can be a catalyst for peace. Kader Asmal, chairman of the World Commission on Dams, said that "there is not a shred of evidence" that wars will be fought over water. Tony Allen, a professor at Kings College and School of Oriental and African Studies in London, told IRIN that the absence of even a single armed conflict over water since the 1960s showed that "the 'water war' is a stupid idea".
Researchers at Oregon State University have disputed Allen's claims. Their Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database revealed there were 507 disputes over water during the second half of the twentieth century. Only 37 of these were violent, and as many as 30 of them were between Israel and one of its neighbours. At the same time, there have been 1,228 agreements, or other cooperative arrangements. The number of peaceful and accommodating events thus largely outnumbers the violent ones. And it is not only peaceful countries that sign treaties and share water. Countries currently at war keep up cooperation regarding water.
Other researchers argued the last real water wars occurred 4,500 years ago between the city-states Lagash and Umma in Mesopotamia. No war has actually been fought over water since then, they said.
As water is so essential, people and states are forced to cooperate, since the contrary would have devastating results. There are several different approaches to water cooperation: The Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database evaluates 'water events' on a scale from -7 to +7. The negative side is for conflicts, and the positive for cooperation, including both verbal and technological support, as well as treaties and alliances. Minus 7 represents a total breakdown of negotiation and resorting to hostilities. The majority of events involving water, hostile or cooperative, are in the range of -2 and 2, meaning they are solely verbal, with no aggressive or antagonistic actions taken.
Water treaties
There are 263 transboundary river basins in the world, and in most of these regions people cooperate peacefully without formal treaties to stipulate the terms and rules of resource sharing. Treaties can be necessary in some cases, however, especially regarding larger river basins shared by more than two riparian states.
Several water treaties have either helped stabilise a region or at least continued to function in spite of hostilities. Aaron Wolf, director of the Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database, said water concerns "gives people a reason to talk even during wars. It works as a vehicle for dialogue."
For example, the Indus River was once a 'domestic' river in British India but later became a transnational river through both India and Pakistan. Through the Indus Water Treaty and the Indus Commission, the two countries continued talks and cooperation from 1960 onwards. Even during the Indo-Pakistani wars of 1965 and 1971 talks were held through the Indus Commission, and a dispute about whether India was giving Pakistan enough water was solved by negotiations and the help of 'neutral experts' as stipulated in the Indus Water Treaty.
Another example is the cooperation around the Mekong River. The Mekong Committee was formed in 1957, with Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam as permanent members and China and Burma as indirect members. Contrary to most other water treaties, this agreement was not the result of an earlier conflict, but a way to get guidelines for future cooperation. There was also assistance from the United Nations and the United States. The committee was most active during its early years, when many studies planning different projects were conducted. With the help of resources from international donors, agriculture, fishing and the potential of electric power were investigated and extensive mapping of the area begun. Since the Mekong basin is a very well-watered region, it is considered unlikely that any disputes would result in conflict, as there is little risk of any absolute shortage of water for any of the states involved. The risk of conflict is far higher in drought-prone regions, where the absence of water is literally a question of life and death for people, communities and livelihoods.
Through the cooperation in the Mekong Committee, Thailand and Laos also came to an agreement about the Lao Nam Ngum River. Thailand was in great need of electricity, and Laos had the resource potential but not the means to build a hydroelectric power station. With support from Thailand, the plant was constructed, and Laos could sell electricity to Thailand.
Because the Mekong treaty stipulated that representatives from each of the four permanent members had to participate in all meetings, the committee transformed into an interim committee from 1978 to 1991, when Cambodia did not participate. The remaining three countries continued to meet for advisory sessions throughout that period. After Cambodia returned to the committee in 1991, a new treaty was negotiated. In 1995, the Mekong River Commission was created.
![[Ethiopia] Ministers meet for Nile river summit](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw== "A catalyst for peace? The case for water cooperation")
Photo: IRIN  |
| Ministers meet in Ethiopia as part of the Nile River Basin Initiative (NBI). The objective of the NBI is to achieve sustainable socio-economic development through cooperative and efficient use of the common Nile basin water resources |
A reason to communicate
The Jordan River offers another example of a watercourse situated in a troubled part of the world. Divided between Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, the water of the Jordan River has been the focus of many disputes. The use of water from the Jordan is so extensive that the Dead Sea's depth is shrinking by almost a metre per year.
Approximately 90 percent of the river's water is diverted and used for irrigation and drinking, mostly by Israel, but also by Jordan and Syria. During the 1950s and 1980s, there were several attempts to come to an agreement about the usage of the water, but no treaty was signed. However, representatives did agree on a draft plan that was accepted by all sides. It was only due to the fact that the Arab states perceived signing such an agreement as an indirect way to recognise the state of Israel that the treaty was not signed. Most countries, nonetheless, have followed the water-allocation proportions suggested in the plan by and large, and informal 'picnic-table' meetings have been held every year with representatives of the riparian states. During the dry months, when the Jordan River is even more important then other times, these meetings have been as frequent as every two weeks.
During the peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation in 1995, as well as between Israel and Jordan in 1994, water was a crucial issue. Both these peace treaties include specific chapters on the use of water from the Jordan River, as well as the use of water from the Yarmuk and groundwater in the case of the treaty with Jordan.
Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority also cooperate on other water projects, such as the Two Seas Canal. It is prospected to provide the area with potable drinking water as well as restore the water level in the Dead Sea. Environmentalists, however, have criticised the project for the negative impact it might have on the region.
Israel has also signed bilateral treaties with the Palestine Authority and Jordan, in 1995 and 1994, respectively.
Sharing water, sharing energy
Renewable energy, such as hydroelectricity, is often seen as the only opportunity for developing countries to electrify their countries. According to World Bank estimates, hydropower today amounts to approximately 19 percent of the world's electricity. Their research also shows that the remaining exploitable potential for hydroelectricity is 5,400 TWh * per year, and that at least 90 percent of this is in developing countries. This is a substantial amount of energy - as a comparison, the whole of the US uses only 3,900 TWh per year, and the United Kingdom less than 400 TWh/year. There is, therefore, a great potential for developing countries to electrify larger areas domestically, as well as to export cost-efficient energy to neighbours with a larger appetite for electricity.
There are certain problems for developing countries in their attempts to extract this energy. First, the lack of resources to finance such infrastructure, and, second, that watercourses most often are shared between countries and depended upon for people's daily lives. Cooperation between possible beneficiaries is hence vital for the development of industrialising countries.
The Lesotho Highlands Water Project is an example of water-and-energy-related cooperation. The tiny country of Lesotho is totally enclosed by South Africa. It is poor in most ways, but rich in water. South Africa needed water, and in 1978 the governments of the two countries set up a joint technical team to investigate the possibility of Lesotho exporting water to South Africa. In 1986, the final report from a second study was completed, and the Treaty on the Lesotho Highlands Water Project between the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho and the Government of the Republic of South Africa was signed.
|
Photo: IRIN |
| A child dying due the affects of a drought in Somalia. “The real problem in the world today is that people are dying from lack of clean water and proper sanitation. That is the humanitarian crisis that the world should focus on," otherwise “the human suffering will continue." |
The Rusumo Falls Hydroelectric Project in Kagera River is another interesting energy project on its way in Africa. It is one of 22 potential water and/or energy projects researched by the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI). NBI is a cooperative body for riparian states in the Nile Basin. Their objective is to achieve sustainable socioeconomic development through cooperative and efficient use of the common Nile basin water resources. Power and water exchange are the most common among these projects.
The planned hydrostation at Rusumo Falls is a joint project between Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania. Once operational, it will be able to provide thousands of people with low-cost power, according to one of the feasibility studies. Today, only around 2 percent of the households in this region have access to electricity, and the country average for both Burundi and Rwanda is less than 5 percent. The average for Tanzania is approximately 10 percent. Supported by international donors such as the African Development Bank, the European Union and the governments of Sweden and Norway, the Rusumo Falls Project has already been approved by the eight other Nile countries that are not directly involved in the project, as well as the ministers of energy in Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania. Further feasibility studies are planned to commence in the end of 2006.
Lack of clean water is the real problem
Aaron Wolf told IRIN that the focus on 'water wars' is misguided and will actually do more harm than help. "The real problem in the world today is that people are dying from lack of clean water and proper sanitation. That is the humanitarian crisis that the world should focus on," he said. "On the international level, we will see an increasing amount of treaties and negotiations, and that will help avoid international conflicts. But on a more local level, the human suffering will continue."
The additional strain on water resources due to population growth and the subsequent increase in food production is yet another piece of evidence that cooperation over water will be more and more important in the future.
The 2004 UN report 'Water: A Shared Responsibility' stated, "At the same time, competition for water is also manifested in the demands between different users - urban versus rural, present uses versus future demands, competing regions, water quantity versus water quality and water concerns versus other social priorities."
Thus, cooperation is necessary not only between, but also within, states. The importance of jointly managing the world's water resources is being emphasised by many experts, including Wolf. It is time to realise that water is not an endless resource, and global cooperation is needed to protect it.
* TWh = Terawatt hour and therefore 10 to the power of twelve. In terms of magnitude this is above the GWh (gigawatt-hours) category which is above the MWh (megawatt-hour) level.
ab/cmh/le
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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