Insight |
Water for prosperity and peace
The United Nations World Water Development Report 2024, published by UNESCO on behalf of UN-Water, highlights that tensions over water are exacerbating conflicts worldwide. To preserve peace, international cooperation and transboundary agreements need to be boosted
Above: Lake Chad in Africa contributes to food security for about 50 million people
Below: Lake Chad in Africa seen from space (contains modified Copernicus SentinelData 2019). The lake has shrunk in area by some 92% over recent decades
“WE ARE CURRENTLY FACING a water crisis that can be seen and felt in a multitude of ways,” says Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO. “On the one hand, flooding and submersion hazards are growing. On the other, half of the global population is facing grave water shortages. Between 2002 and 2021, droughts affected more than 1.4 billion people, causing the death of nearly 21,000 individuals.” Azoulay calls this “the crucial dilemma” that has been raised by the 2024 United Nations World Water Development Report, and puts international cooperation at the heart of proposed solutions – in line with its theme “Water for Prosperity and Peace”. “It takes as a starting point a simple fact: rivers, tributaries, lakes and aquifers know no borders,” Azoulay explains, highlighting UNESCO’s belief that well-managed and fairly distributed water resources can be a driver of peace. “For this reason, over the years, water management has more often been a source of cooperation than one of confrontation.” Transboundary rivers, lakes and aquifers account for 60% of the world’s freshwater flows and more than 310 river basins are shared between two or more countries. Globally a total of 153 countries share rivers, lakes and aquifers. As the UNESCO report states: “Transboundary waters globally face significant and increasing pressures due to population increase, growing water demands, ecosystem degradation and climate change. Cooperation over transboundary rivers, lakes and aquifers can generate multiple economic, social, environmental and political benefits that in turn deliver
prosperity and peace at local, national, regional and global levels.” Although more than 3600 international water
treaties have been developed and approximately 120 international basin organisations exist to jointly manage shared basins worldwide, many transboundary water bodies still lack such arrangements. As UNESCO explains, while approximately 40% of the world’s population lives in transboundary river and lake basins, only a fifth of countries have cross border agreements to jointly manage these shared resources equitably. Many transboundary basins are already located in areas marked by current or past interstate tensions. In the Arab region, seven countries were in conflict in 2021 – some dating back many years –which has had wide-ranging implications for water supply, infrastructure, and potential cooperation on water- related issues. Africa remains especially vulnerable to interstate
tensions relating to water: 19 out of 22 states studied suffer from water scarcity, and two-thirds of the continent’s freshwater resources are transboundary. Of the 106 transboundary aquifers mapped in Africa, interstate cooperation has only been formalised in seven.
Lake Chad
Over the past 60 years, damming, overextraction, climate change and drought have all contributed to the rapid depletion of Lake Chad. At 984,455 km2
,
it is the largest inland drainage area in Africa which contributes to food security for about 50 million people, and was once considered the sixth-largest inland water body on earth for livelihood. However in recent decades it has shrunk in area by some 92% and has been at the centre of various forms of conflict and insecurity for decades. Cameroon, Chad, the Central African Republic, Libya, Niger and Nigeria are all member states of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), which has been entrusted with ensuring the most efficient use of the basin’s waters, coordinating development and assisting in settling any disputes that may arise between the riparian countries. In a region facing insecurity and attacks from armed
groups, the LCBC hosts a multi-national joint task force as a regional security arrangement. Although river basin organisations are generally mandated to focus on transboundary water management, the case of LCBC illustrates how they can promote regional peace and security more broadly.
18 | Yearbook 2024 |
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