World making peace, not war, over water

Abstract

International report There is no evidence that wars are looming between governments over shortages of water. This is according to researchers writing in A World of Science, a periodical published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in January. In fact, conflicting parties are far more likely to cooperate over water issues as research has shown. Between 1945 and 2008 cooperative events between riparian states outnumbered conflicts by more than 2:1. Authors of the article, ‘The key to managing conflict and cooperation over water’ , say that water has been a productive pathway for building confidence, developing cooperation and preventing conflict, even in particularly contentious basins. The authors are Annika Kramer, Aaron T Wolf, Alexander Carius and Geoffrey D Dabelko. “In some cases, water provides one of the few paths for dialogue in otherwise heated bilateral conflicts. In politically unsettled regions, water is an essential part of regional development negotiations, which serve as de facto conflictprevention strategies.

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