Water wars

Water wars is a phrase used to describe increased competition for water resources, due to drought, climate change, or increasing populations; controversies over and reduced access due to privatization of water services; or the role of these tensions in leading to physical conflicts, within or among nations.

Predictions

 * "By 2025, 1800 million people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity, and two-thirds of the world population could be under stress conditions"; "Water withdrawals are predicted to increase by 50 percent by 2025 in developing countries, and 18 per cent in developed countries"; and "Water use has been growing at more than the rate twice of population increase in the last century." -- UN Water


 * "By 2015 nearly half the world's population -- more than 3 billion people -- will live in countries that are 'water-stressed' -- have less than 1,700 cubic meters of water per capita per year -- mostly in Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and northern China," predicted a CIA report from 2000.

Quotes

 * "The next war in the Middle East will be fought over water, not politics" from 1985; and "Water will be more important than oil this century" from 2003. -- Former United Nations Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali.


 * "There are those in Iran who must abandon their homes due to lack of water; they are known commonly as 'water refugees'. In Gaza, less than 15 gallons of water a day are available to each Palestinian (opposed to each American who has 800 gallons of water available a day). If you think things couldn’t get worse in the Middle East, look to the foreseeable future, when usable water will be far more precious than oil."


 * "Water, like air, is a necessity of human life. It is also, according to Fortune magazine, 'One of the world's great business opportunities. It promises to be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th.' In the past ten years, three giant global corporations have quietly assumed control over the water supplied to almost 300 million people in every continent of the world."


 * Water war "is a term devised by environmentalists for a type of conflict (most probably a form of guerrilla warfare) which has not yet occurred, but which they predict will happen sometime shortly after the millennium through an acute shortage of water for drinking and irrigation. About 40 per cent of the world's populations are already affected to some degree, but population growth, climate change and rises in living standards will worsen the situation: the UN Environment Agency warns that almost 3 billion people will be severely short of water within 50 years. Experts point to the disaster of the Aral Sea, which has already lost three-quarters of its water through diversion for irrigation of the rivers feeding it. Possible flash points have been predicted in the Middle East, parts of Africa and in many of the world's major river basins, including the Danube. The term has been used for some years, happily only in a figurative sense, to describe disputes in the southern and south-western United States over rights to water extraction from rivers and aquifers."

Related SourceWatch articles

 * American Water
 * Climate change
 * Desalination
 * Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)
 * General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS)
 * Guaraní Aquifer (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay)
 * Hunton & Williams
 * International Monetary Fund
 * International Private Water Association
 * Middle East Free Trade Area
 * North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
 * North American Union
 * Privatization
 * Sovereignty over natural resources
 * SUEZ
 * Sustainable development
 * Water Industry Council
 * Water Policy Institute
 * World Bank
 * World Trade Organization (WTO)

Books

 * Vandana Shiva, "Water Wars. Privatization, Pollution, and Profit," South End Press, 2002 ISBN 089608650X. Excerpt.
 * Diane Raines Ward, "Water Wars: Drought, Flood, Folly and the Politics of Thirst," Penguin Putnam, 2002 ISBN 1573222291.
 * David A. McDonald, "The Age of Commodity: Water Privatization in Southern Africa," Earthscan Publications, 2005 ISBN 1844071340.

Reports

 * Marq de Villiers, "Water Wars of the Near Future," in ITT Industries Guidebook to Global Water Issues, 1999.
 * "Water" in "Global Trends 2015: A Dialogue About the Future With Nongovernment Experts," CIA Report, 2000.
 * "Water Privatization Fiascos: Broken Promises and Social Turmoil - Case studies: Buenos Aires, Argentina; Atlanta, Georgia; Manila, the Philippines; Cochabamba, Bolivia; Jakarta, Indonesia; Nelspruit, South Africa; and the United Kingdom," Public Citizen, March 2003.
 * Fred Pearce, "Water Wars and Peace," The New Courier, UNESCO, November 18, 2005.
 * Bates, B.C., Z.W. Kundzewicz, S. Wu and J.P. Palutikof, Eds.: "Climate Change and Water," Technical Paper of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC Secretariat, Geneva, 210 pp, June 2008.
 * Peter H. Gleick, "Environment and Security Water Conflict Chronology," Pacific Institute, November 2008.

Maps

 * Map: The world's water hotspots," BBC News, October 20, 2004.

Websites

 * Mexico 2006: 4th World Water Forum, March 16-22, 2006; also see the World Water Council's website
 * Turkey 2009: 5th World Water Forum, March 16 - 22, 2009 in Istanbul
 * "Water privatization" on the Canadian Union of Public Employees website
 * Water issues on the Corporate Accountability International website
 * Water issues on the Food and Water Watch website
 * NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center Earth Science Office
 * "The World's Water from the Pacific Institute
 * Water issues on the Polaris Institute website
 * "Water Privatization: Issues & Debates," on the Public Citizen website
 * "Corporate Water Privatization" on the Sierra Club website
 * website of the industry- and international financial institution-backed World Water Council
 * World Water Wars
 * "Water privatization" on Wikipedia
 * Water portal of UNESCO's website
 * UN Water website
 * FAO Water website

Article series

 * "Bolivia's War Over Water," The Democracy Center, 2000.
 * Privatization of Water in Africa. Articles dated 2001-2003, afrol.com.
 * "The Water Barons: A Handful of Corporations Seek to Privatize the World's Water," Center for Public Integrity, February 3-14, 2003.
 * "A debate on water privatization," six-part series with Peter Cook, Maude Barlow and Sara Ehrhardt, Grist Magazine, 2004. Scroll down for links to parts.
 * "Great Lakes water export headlines," Great Lakes Environmental Directory, 2001-2007.

General articles

 * Water Wars: External Links 1990-1999
 * Water Wars: External Links 2000
 * Water Wars: External Links 2001
 * Water Wars: External Links 2002
 * Water Wars: External Links 2003
 * Water Wars: External Links 2004
 * Water Wars: External Links 2005
 * Water Wars: External Links 2006


 * Matthew Brown, "Montana and Wyoming fighting for water," Associated Press (Seattle Post-Intelligencer), February 5, 2007.