Expert Says Cooperation Can Resolve Global Water Scarcities

March 22, 2013

Uncertain access to fresh water is among the world’s greatest security threats. That’s according to the worldwide assessment delivered by U.S. intelligence agencies to Congress earlier in March.

Water shortages, increasing pollution, flooding and climate change can all heighten instability within and between countries. But on this World Water Day, March 22, the United Nations says water scarcity offers opportunities for collaboration as well as conflict.

A barbed-wired fence divides farmlands in India and Pakistan, nuclear-armed neighbors with a history of violent conflict.

But the waters that feed them know no boundaries. The Indus River basin spans both countries. Both rely on these waters for irrigation, drinking water and hydroelectric power.

But most their water disputes have ended with handshakes, not violence, thanks to a 1960 treaty, says environmental security expert David Michel at the Stimson Center, a Washington research group.

"The Indus Water Treaty was developed and signed largely due to the parties’ recognition of the possible consequences of failing to come to some agreement on how to manage this river that crosses their borders," said Michel.

Population with access to clean water

But managing river resources may get more difficult in the coming years. Both countries are growing rapidly, raising demand for food, water and energy. And there is no additional water in the river basin.