News from the Secretariat
| News from the Secretariat |
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From the Secretary Andras Szöllösi-Nagy |
I would like to share my thoughts with you on this fascinating but exceedingly important problem with which the world is faced today: water as a source of conflict. The rationale behind the IHP-V Theme 4 project entitled Strategies for Water Resources Management in Emergency and Conflicting Situations is that water as a scarce and commonly shared resource may become a cause of conflict. These may range from conflicts between different uses and users of water, at the local level, to conflicting situations around international water systems. In the majority of cases such conflicts have a strong cultural component stemming from the different perceptions of the value of water under different socio-cultural environments.
Water-related conflicts, of course, are not new. They have occurred and have been resolved in the past. The first reported and published case was in the Land of Canaan between Abraham, and later his son, Isaac, and Abimelech, the King of the Philistines. This conflict was about the ownership of wells of water somewhere in the region between Gaza and Beer-Sheva. Professor Arie Issar of the Ben Gurion University of Israel has recently identified the possible location of this conflict. He also recalled that, Isaac accepted King Abimelech's request to remove himself and his people from the Gaza coastal plain to the area of Beer-Sheva. There, with experience gained by trial and error exploration and digging, he was able to locate a buried river bed in which his servants were able to dig freshwater wells.
Further analysis of this situation makes one wonder what would have happened if Isaac had not found usable water. It is likely that a severe conflict would have emerged between his and Abimelech's servants which might have dramatically changed the future of the peoples of the region.
What sort of lessons can be drawn from all this beyond re-stating that water-related conflicts are not new? First of all conflicts should be negotiated. Secondly, a win-lose situation could lead, in the long run, to a lose-lose situation and the application of brute force is far from being the optimum solution for anybody involved in sharing the same water resource.
This is why the development of water-related conflict resolution tools is of great importance and this is why it has an important place in the current phase of the International Hydrological Programme. Federico Mayor, the Director-General of UNESCO, in his message 'Towards a New Water Ethic', released on the World Day for Water, on 22nd March 1997, stated that 'Water - the source of life and human civilisation - is set to become one of the major issues of the 21st Century. Wise and far-sighted action is essential if human needs are to be met and if this most precious of resources is not to become a subject of conflict'.
It seems that finally water issues are receiving the global political attention they long deserve. The United Nations system in co-operation with the Stockholm Environmental Institute, has recently completed a major work on the "Comprehensive Assessment of the Freshwater Resources of the World"2. The report was submitted to the UN Commission for Sustainable Development which acknowledged that 'water will become a major limiting factor for socio-economic development unless early action is taken'. The Commission calls for 'the highest priority to be given to the serious freshwater problems facing many regions, especially in the developing world.' The water issue was on the agenda of the special session of the UN General Assembly meeting held in New York in June 1997.
I would like to cite a few sentences from the Mayor Statement3:
"The water issue - among other major challenges of the century to come - is forcing us to rethink our notions of security and interdependency. It is helping us to discern more clearly the links between development and peace, to acknowledge the global dimension of sustainable development, to recognise the need for a greater sharing of knowledge and resources. Throughout history, human beings have responded to the need to pool their efforts and share resources in the interests of common security. Water, in particular, has been one of humanity's historic learning grounds for community building. It is of the highest importance that we should see water as a potential source, not of conflict, but of agreements that can serve as a paradigm for the constructive sharing of knowledge and resources essential for the transition from a culture of war to a culture of peace".
"Let me end with an image from that great man of science and culture, Leonardo da Vinci, who said that in moments of crisis we should regard ourselves as passengers in the same vessel, threatened by the same rough seas, sharing a common destiny. Such a civilised awareness is essential - I believe - for negotiating the difficult waters that stand between us and our shared goals in the century to come."
Postojna Caves, Slovenia
