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 Printable version |
Transboundary water conflicts: Current tendencies |
Science et changements planétaires / Sécheresse. Volume 21, Number 1, 22-7, janvier-février-mars 2010, Article de recherche
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 Résumé
Article gratuit
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Author(s) : Mohamed Redha Menani |
Summary : Owing to the fact that water is essential, it has been used since Antiquity as an arm in conflicts. For example, in 596 before J-C, at the time of the military siege of the city of Tyr, Nabuchodonosor destroyed part of the aqueduct which supplied the city with water. More recently, in 1938, in order to flood zones threatened by the Japanese army, Tchang Kai Chek ordered the destruction of dams along part of the Yellow River. The flood destroyed part of the invading forces, but also drowned thousands of Chinese. Other violations, which occurred during the Second World War or the war of Vietnam, affected hydroelectric equipment and dams which were taken as targets during bombardment. In other cases it is the insufficiency of the resource which is the cause of extreme tensions and expansionist strategies, as in the case of the eternal transboundary conflict over water of the Jordan River between Israel and the neighbouring Arab countries. At the local scale, even the tribal scale, the principal arguments concerns water uasage which is in particular related to irrigation and respect of quotas imposed by ancestral rules. This ingredient takes another dimension when it is mixed with political or ethnic space with a given population, even if the resource is abundant. Although alarmist studies predict violent conflicts over water, such as those which target particularly the arid regions of the Middle East, initiatives based on legal, humane, economic and scientific considerations are being carried out by the international community in order to prevent the danger of the conflicts over water in several important regions around the globe. |
Keywords : conflict, prospective, water management |
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