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DEFINING THE GEOPOLITICS OF A THIRSTY WORLDSM

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 * Global Challenge
 * Company
 * Analysis/Research
 * Instructional Design
 * Blog


WATER POLITICS

We are on the verge of a water crisis.

By 2025, more than half of the nations in the world will face freshwater stress
or shortages and, by 2050, as much as 75 percent of the world’s population could
face freshwater scarcity. International Alert has identified 46 countries, home
to 2.7 billion people, where climate change and water-related crises create a
high risk of violent conflict. A further 56 countries, representing another 1.2
billion people, are at high risk of political instability. That’s more than half
the world.

And we are becoming a much thirstier world. Growing populations spur demand for
more industries and farmland, draining water resources more quickly than ever.
Climate change is expected to exacerbate the problem as it alters rainfall
patterns. And, unlike carbon reduction, there is no alternative, no substitute
to promote.

In its physical state, water remains a local & regional resource with
significant geopolitical impact, traversing national & international borders and
political jurisdictions through rivers, lakes, and aquifers. This dramatically
increases the potential for cross-border tensions in water-stressed regions.
Whether it is the Colorado, the Indus, the Murray Darling, the Mekong, the Nile
or the North China Plains that is examined, water basins containing millions of
people, farmland, forests, cities, industry and coastline straddle multiple
political boundaries with high risk of becoming future geopolitical flashpoints.

Some people call water the oil of the 21st century. While this description may
not be exact, one thing is clear: the availability of water will be a key driver
in the development of the world’s economy and government policies in the next
decade. In fact, global water shortages are already threatening economic growth
as well as impacting geopolitical stability. It is inevitable that water is
destined to become an even more prized commodity and likely source of conflict
than at present.

> “I believe water will be the defining crisis of our century, the main vehicle
> through which climate change will be felt from droughts, storms, and floods to
> degrading water quality. We’ll see major conflicts over water; water refugees.
> We inhabit a water planet, and unless we protect, manage, and restore that
> resource, the future will be a very different place from the one we imagine
> today.”
> 
>  – Alexandra Cousteau



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