Water is indispensable for human survival. Several recent issues bring to light the fact that water will assume greater significance in global developments.
Water has become a strategic resource as:
1. Overpopulation is burdening the existing water sources, necessitating a need for newer water sources. Unsustainable extraction from groundwater aquifers also results in hazards such as heavy metal toxicity, arsenic and sulphur toxicity etc, which have adverse repercussions on health of a country’s population.
2. This problem is aggravated by pollution of the healthy water bodies, and further deterioration due to anthropogenic climate change.
3. Terrorist groups use water as a tool to starve populations into submission. E.g: Capture of Tishrin, Tabqa, Mosul and Fallujah dams on Tigris and Euphrates rivers by Daesh (Islamic State).
4. Nations use trans-boundary rivers as bargaining chips to gain leverage in bilateral relationships. E.g: China recently built 3 dams on Brahmaputra just before it enters India at Namcha Barwa (Arunachal Pradesh), the recent proposal to review the Indus Water Treaty between India-Pak.
5. Inter-state/inter-province river water disputes, such as the recent Cauvery water dispute between the Indian states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, hold wider significance and may prove detrimental for federalism.
6. Increase in conflict-ridden areas around the world has made it difficult for more and more people to access clean water for daily use.
7. Loss of polar ice caps due to climate change is resulting in increased sea levels. Small Island Developing Countries (SIDCs) are purchasing land in other countries to relocate their populations. This has significant geopolitical significance.
8. The conflict over freedom of navigation in South China Sea (SCS) is of great geopolitical significance since more than half of the world’s merchant cargo passes through the SCS.
Similar case with Rio Chagres, which feeds the Panama Canal.
Oil assumed such significance a few decades earlier. Now the oil has alternatives such as renewable and natural gas. However, there is no alternative for water. Hence,
Way forward:
1. Countries need to cooperate with each other in matters of water, considering all water on earth a common resource of all humanity.
2. UNSC will need to declare water a “strategic resource of humanity” and pass a resolution to that effect, similar to Resolution 2286 that designates medical facilities as strategic resources.
3. Initiatives like Marshall Fund for protecting world’s shared river basins should be encouraged and provided proper support.
4. Sustainable Development Goals need to be implemented in real earnest, to ensure that the present water bodies are not polluted and there is sustainable consumption of water.
It is often said that the third world war will be fought over water. Humanity together must recognize the importance that water holds to its survival, and must strive to avoid such a war at all costs.
