An Indigenous Approach to Water Conflicts

1426 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The global water crisis reflection

In spite of abundant supply, seventy five percent of our planet's water is contained in the oceans, and less than one percent of the total amount of available water is fit for human use. Furthermore,thirteen rivers and lakes are shared by 96 nation-states, in which the scarcity and uneven distribution of fresh water is one of the most destabilizing causes for conflict. Although there are thousands of treaties in existence, none of them address long lasting and equitable allocation of water resources. Nevertheless, because of the volatile past and future trends, as a case study, the Nile and Jordan river basins will be discussed in the context of failed negotiations, treaties and agreements. As a result, instead of analyzing water conflicts in terms of political and intellectual issues, a new approach focused on communal and regional centered water sharing agreements and negotiations will be proposed.

Water, as the most vital resource to sustain human life, Mandel(1992 ) states that more than forty percent of the world population lives in water bodies that are shared by multiple countries. For example, the Nile,Tigris-Euphrates, Ganges, Danube, and Colorado river basins are shared by more than one billion people. Unlike other static natural resource such as oil and land, obviously, a continuously flowing body of water makes it impossible for any state to claim sovereignty and absolute control. Mandel states ( 2009),” because of its sheer complexity, the issue of water is more difficult for policy makers and scholars to grasp in its entirety tends to be dealt with piecemeal both domestically and internationally”. (p.365).

Can there be certain cursors that might predict potential water hotspots ? In what R...

... middle of paper ...

...er the world’s longest river. (2013).

Retrieved from from http://www.futuredirections.org.au/publications/food-and-water-crises/1452

transboundary-water-disputes-over-the-world-s-longest-river.html

Prof. Majeed A. Rahman | Global research. (2010).. Retrieved from http;//www.globalresearch.ca/

author/majeed-a-rahman

El-Fadel, M., El-Sayegh, Y., El-Fadl, K., & Khorbotly, D. (2003).The Nile river basin: A case study in .

surface water conflict resolution. Journal of natural resources and life sciences education, 32, 107

Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/194473199?accountid=38569

J. Peter Pham, Ph.D . Crisis, conflict, and opportunity in the Nile basin :Strategic interests. World

defense review. (2010). Retrieved from http;//worlddefensereview.com/pham020910.shtml

Show More
Related

  • Maude Barlow's Water Incorporated

    841 Words  | 2 Pages

    Maude Barlow’s “Water Incorporated: The Commodification of the World’s Water” gives a voice to a very real, but vastly unknown, issue: the privatization of water. I refer to it as vastly unknown because it wasn’t until this article that I was even aware such a power struggle existed. Barlow first introduces startling statistics, meant to grab the attention of its readers. Once she has your attention, she introduces the “new generation of trade and investment agreements.” (306)

    Read More

  • How The Colorado River Basin

    889 Words  | 2 Pages

    The ability to obtain abundant, pure water is a basic requirement for an individual’s well-being. Likewise, access to abundant, safe water is also indispensable for resilient agricultural crops as well as a thriving national economy. These requirements for pure water are so substantial that disputes amongst regional groups, states, as well as nations arise on a frequent basis regarding the rights to various water sources.

    Read More

  • River Nile Essay

    1420 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ancient Egypt is very well-known as a barren desert in the geography of Africa, yet it is also acclaimed as the “breadbasket of the world.” This grandiose name is often associated with the river Nile, which is strongly believed as one of the most prominent factors for the vivacity of ancient Egypt. Moreover, many historians confidently conclude that the river Nile perhaps is responsible for not only breathing life into this once uninhabitable piece of land, but also for manipulating the behaviour and culture of its people. Therefore, it can be surmised that the river Nile remains one of the most significant and influential factors in the agriculture, trade, and culture of ancient Egypt.

    Read More

  • Water Privatization: Private vs. Public

    963 Words  | 2 Pages

    4. United Nations Development Programme, U.N. Human Development Report 2006, Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty, and the Global Water Crisis, web. 6 Dec. 2009 http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/hdr2006_english_summary.pdf

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Egypt And Mesopotamia

    804 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Egypt, the Nile River overflowed its banks annually, creating fertile, mineral-rich soil. The yearly rise of the Nile in Egypt was gentle and predictable. The Egyptian’s found security in the Nile’s 365-day cycle of inundation and Egypt’s perimeter of sea and desert

    Read More

  • Will There Be Peace in the Middle East

    1447 Words  | 3 Pages

    The article, “Why Is There So Much Conflict in the Middle East?” written by Mirjam E. Sørli et. al corresponds a great deal with the text Politics and Change in the Middle East as far as the reasons for conflict in the Middle East. Sørli et. al disputes the idea of “Middle East exceptionalism,” which says that there is something different about Middle Easterners that make them prone to violence and conflict (142). Sørli et. al says this is not true, but rather there are very simple reasons as to why there has been conflict in the Middle East. As stated, the lack of regional natural resources such as water, oil, and arable la...

    Read More

  • The Nile River-Egypt

    1175 Words  | 3 Pages

    United Nations Environment Programme. Environment, Sustainable Development and the Nile River Basin. N.p.: United Nations Environment Programme, n.d. Case Study 1. United Nations Environmental Programme. Web. 3 May 2014.

    Read More

  • Ancient Egyptian Agriculture.

    1076 Words  | 3 Pages

    When the Nile is overflowing, it floods the Delta and the lands called Libyan and Arabian, for a distance of a journey of two days from both banks in places, and sometimes, sometimes less. I could not learn anything about its nature, neither from the priests nor from anyone else. I was curious to learn why the Nile is flooding for a hundred days from the summer solstice; and when this time is passed, sinks again, and the river is low during the whole winter until the summer solstice again.

    Read More

  • Water Issues in South Asia

    13430 Words  | 27 Pages

    This, however, does not mean that India is solely responsible for certain deadlocks, even though its share of responsibility may be larger than other countries which have their own physical limitations and political apprehensions. As elsewhere in the world, and more particularly in the subcontinent where population explosion continues and environmental degradation worsens, water resources, like energy, are going to be much lower than the increasing demand, even if they are harnessed to the most optimum. Given the depleting resources of water, the issues of human security, and water security as its most crucial part, are going to assume astronomical proportions. The issues of water distribution and management are bringing not only countries of the region, but also states and regions within provinces into conflict since they are not being settled amicably within a grand framework of riparian statutes respecting upstream and downstream rights. What is, however, quite appreciable is that the countries of the subcontinent have made certain remarkable efforts to resolve their differences over water distribution through bilateral agreements.

    Read More

  • The Importance of the Nile to Ancient Egypt

    1311 Words  | 3 Pages

    Providing extremely fertile soil is one, if not the most important, roles the Nile River played in the life of the ancient Egyptians. By providing fertile soil, the Nile made it easy for cities and civilizations to grow alongside the banks of the river. This fertile soil comes from the annual flooding of the Nile. This replenishes the top soil with silt deposits that hold much needed nutrients for crops to grow. Ancient Egyptians developed highly complex irrigation methods to maximize the effect of the Nile waters. When the Nile overflows in mid summer, Egyptians divert the waters through the use of canals and dams. As the water seeped into the farm land, rich deposits of silt ensured a good harvest for the year. This allows the civilizations of Egyptians to grow enough food to feed the community. Without the annual flooding of the Nile, Egyptians would have a very difficult time growing necessary amount food to sustain life. Most of the land in the Egyptian nation is dry desert. Very little rain falls year round here. The river provides the needed water to grow the crops as well as provide drinking water for the people. Th...

    Read More

  • The Problem of Water Scarcity

    1538 Words  | 4 Pages

    Web. The Web. The Web. Miller, Debra A. & Co. Will the World Run out of Fresh Water? Detroit: Greenhaven, 2007.

    Read More

  • The Importance of Protecting Our Natural Resource- Water

    2372 Words  | 5 Pages

    Water is the most priceless resource on our planet. Billions of gallons flow through our rivers and lakes. Millions of gallons are consumed by humans each day. Our world’s surface is seventy percent water. With so much water around us, how can 1.1 billion people still lack access to clean water (Cooper, Water Shortages)? People are already using fifty four percent of all the freshwater available on this planet (Cooper, Water Shortages). We cannot afford to neglect something so essential to our very survival. We must defend our most important natural resource—water.

    Read More

  • Water Pollution In Lebanon Essay

    1915 Words  | 4 Pages

    Aquifers feed our rivers and supply much of our drinking water. Groundwater pollution is much less obvious than surface-water pollution, but is no less of a problem. As the long Mediterranean summer drags on and the promise of rain evaporates as quickly as the few fat drops that have fallen here and there, residents of the capital and its surrounding areas find themselves resorting to ad hoc private water networks as the public pipes run dry. "We had originally dug at 30 meters, but we are now digging at 70 meters," one private water supplier and well owner told The Daily Star(Unknown, 2013,page

    Read More

  • The Global Water Crisis

    2639 Words  | 6 Pages

    Freshwater in the world makes up only a small portion of water on the planet. While the percentage of water in the world is nearly 70%, only 2.5% is consumable. Even further, only <1% is easily accessible to basic human needs. According to National Geographic, “by 2025, an estimated 1.8 billion people will live in areas plagued by water scarcity, with two-thirds of the world's population living in water-stressed regions as a result of use, growth, and climate change.” With this current trend, water will become more immersed in environmental, economic, political, and social changes. Many of these in later years shall need to be addressed as tension rises:

    Read More

  • River nile

    1008 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Nile is the longest river in the world which is located in Africa. It spans itself from Lake Victoria in east central Africa to Egypt. It flows generally north through Uganda, Sudan, and Egypt to the Mediterranean Sea, for an approximate distance of 5,584 km From its remotest headstream, the Luvironza River in Burundi, the river is 6,695 km long. The river basin has an area of about 3,350,000 sq km. Its average discharge is 3.1 million litres per second. The lower course of the river in Egypt has become centrally important to tourism, linking as it does to all the major sites of Ancient Egypt.

    Read More

More about An Indigenous Approach to Water Conflicts

Open Document