Source: AlertNet/Reuters
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
20 March 2011, Oslo - The United Nations should promote "hydro-diplomacy" to defuse any tensions over water in regions like the Middle East and North Africa where scarce supplies have the potential to spark future conflicts, experts said on Sunday.
They said the U.N. Security Council should work out ways to bolster cooperation over water in shared lakes or rivers, from the Mekong to the Nile, that are likely to come under pressure from a rising world population and climate change.
The Middle East and North Africa are the regions most at risk of conflict over scarce water supplies, they said, but history shows "water wars" are very rare.
"We think that water is an issue that would be a appropriate for the U.N. Security Council," Zafar Adeel, chair of UN-Water, told Reuters ahead of a meeting of experts in Canada this week to discuss water and security.
U.N. studies project that 30 nations will be "water scarce" in 2025, up from 20 in 1990. Eighteen of them are in the Middle East and North Africa, with Libya and Egypt among those added to the 1990 list that includes Israel and Somalia.
Water scarcity is when each person has access to 1,000 or fewer cubic metres of water a year.
UN-Water coordinates water-related activities of all U.N. agencies. March 22 is "World Water Day" in the U.N. calendar.
"The world's top ranked water conflict hotspot is the Arab region, comprised of the Middle East and North Africa," according to a statement about the March 21-23 talks in Toronto.
Adeel said the U.N. should try to promote past traditions of rivals cooperating over supplies in a form of "hydro-diplomacy".
For the complete article, please see AlertNet/Reuters.
Climate adaptation has been praised for its potential for contributing to peace. It is highlighted for the potential to remake systems and equip the world to better cope with the impacts of climate change. However, these remain hopeful claims until rigorous research is done on how this might take place and what type of peace we might expect to result from the implementation of climate adaptation.
Almost 200 states have agreed on measures to limit global warming in Katowice, Poland, after a two-week marathon of negotiations. The state representatives participating at the Conference of the Parties (COP24) agreed on a 156-page rulebook on Saturday night, listing measures and controls to limit the global rise in average temperatures to well below two degrees Celsius.
Responding to climate change has become more urgent than ever. Cooperation within communities is a precondition for urban resilience, as recurring heatwaves and hurricanes cannot be put down to chance any more. Lou del Bello argues that part of the response to disaster risks lies in digital communications, which will help build preparedness from the bottom up.
This year’s annual UN climate conference concluded late on Saturday evening in Katowice, Poland, after two weeks of tension-filled talks.