Experts call for joint efforts to prevent War over Water
Manama : Water resources could be a catalyst or a contributing factor for future wars in the Middle East, experts cautioned yesterday, while calling for close cooperation between countries in the region to avert such situations.
“Water may not be the sole determinant for war but it can be a catalyst for wars, it can be a threat multiplier and add to the tensions that already exist,” said Waleed Khalil Zubari, Professor of Water resources management at Arabian Gulf University.
“We should have common solutions and agreements in place,” he stressed citing the varying opinions Arab countries express in international conferences.
“This needs to change,” Zubari said adding: “We need to be more united in our stance.”
“The cooperation should be in everything related to water as well as in other areas such as in food production, energy, environmental issues and more,” he pointed out.
Prof. Zubari also urged experts in the field of water resources and water scarcity to spearhead such cooperation efforts. This came as he was speaking during the launch of a ‘Water Preventive Diplomacy Process’, an initiative that focuses on preventive measures to ensure sustainable equitable distribution of water resources in MENA region.
Under the patronage of Minister of Electricity and Water Affairs, Dr Abdulhussain bin Ali Mirza, the event was launched by International Peace Institute MENA in collaboration with 1958 Project Management and Marketing and Water Science and Technology Association.
In his keynote address, the Minister warned the participants of the conference citing statistics that by 2025, “1.8 billion people will be living in areas of water scarcity and two-thirds of the population of the world will be living in water-stressed condition”.
Water scarcity, Dr Mirza said, has become a threat multiplier aggravating existing tensions and instability in the MENA region and in many other water-scarce regions in the world. “In the MENA region, the potential role of water in conflict will be more than in other regions as more than two-thirds of the water resources are flowing in from outside,” the Minister pointed out.
Explaining his concerns over the role of water in conflicts, the Minister also highlighted to the participants that water can also be “a pathway for confidence building, cooperation and conflict prevention.”
“Globally reported cooperative incidents on the water far exceeds those of water conflict,” he said.
In this regard, the minister also highlighted the setting up of the Water Resources Council and the concerns of His Majesty and Their Highnesses the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in developing a unified water strategy up to 2035.
The strategy, Dr Mirza said, aims at addressing the problem of water scarcity in the region and seeking to provide safe and sustainable water resources in the long term.
The minister also affirmed Bahrain’s commitment to support the initiative of water security and sustainability and the participation of the GCC countries in a unified water strategy
IPI MENA Director Nejib Friji hosted the session, other experts who spoke included Lena Salame - a lawyer in international public law specialized in conflict mitigation, and Noha Mohamed Nasralla - a specialist in technical cooperation with the Nile Basin countries.
Freiji thanked the minister for his support, and stressed that at a time of increasing water scarcity and high demand, “regional and global cooperation in water was a tool for peace and a comprehensive mechanism for stability and sustainable development.”
“Dialogue and capacity-building are of great relevance to the development of cooperation as well as to the preventive function of international water law,” he stressed welcoming international community to strengthen existing frameworks to resolve water-related divisions and build a bridge to security and peace.
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