Water: A Source of Conflict or a Pathway to Peace?

"Water for Peace" is the theme of this year's World Water Day. Despite widespread media reports and studies cautioning about potential future conflicts over what has been dubbed the “gold of the 21st century”. Indeed, the historical competition for water resources dates back millennia, tracing its roots to the settlement of human communities. Our language reflects this: "Rivalry" comes from the Latin word "rivalis," meaning "one who uses the same river." 

Even today, conflicts occur between nomadic herders and settled farming communities, often escalating into violent and even deadly encounters. For example, in the inner Niger Delta in Mali, in Kenya, and in Ethiopia, the rural populations compete for scarce water and land resources. Similarly, states or provinces that lie along the same river often compete over shared water—whether it be issues of withdrawing quantities, pollution concerns, or the detrimental impacts of downstream flooding. These issues and resulting conflicts maybe aggravated by climate change impacts on water availability and the occurrence of severe floods and droughts. 

Cooperation despite Conflict

However, prolific wars over water are yet to materialize. Where violent conflicts occur, they are almost always rooted in pre-existing political, ethnic, or religious conflicts that are reflected in unjust water distribution. What’s more, research has shown that even in regions affected by water scarcity, cooperative approaches to water problems prevail. Examples range from joint technical working groups for exchanging crucial water data, to agreements on water distribution, or the construction of multifunctional dams benefiting all riparian states involved, and institutions to jointly manage shared water resources, such as in the Senegal River basin. Water cooperation can be found even between otherwise conflicting parties. Some of the most hostile countries in the world have signed water agreements with each other. The institutions established to implement these agreements often prove remarkably stable. Water is simply too important to stop necessary cooperation during crises. For example, the Indus Commission, which regulates the distribution of river water between India and Pakistan, has survived wars between more than two countries. And technical working groups between Palestinian, Israeli, and Jordanian water authorities continued to meet regularly even during the second Intifada and communities in the region have met over joint water projects even though unjust water allocation remains a highly contentious issue in the region.