As they say, ‘water is life’, with its shortage continuing to fuel conflicts around the world. Since the mid-20th century, the planet has seen nearly 180 disputes connected to water resources, and among the latest is the problem in Egypt.
For centuries, the protection of natural resources has been tied
to wars and conflicts around the world. So it’s unsurprising that
when Ethiopia, the source of around 85 percent of the Nile’s
water, raised the possibility of building a high dam on the Blue
Nile, some Egyptian experts suggested going to war with the
country.
“If you cut water we’d be dying” political scientist at
the American university in Cairo, Said Sadek, told RT. “We
have to remember that Egypt has only 6-7 percent of arable land.
The western Egyptian territory is a desert, so that can be a
serious problem, affecting national security.”
By 2050 Egypt will contain 150 million people and the country
will need an extra 21 billion cubic meters of water in addition
to the current 55.5 billion, Sadek noted.
In June, Ethiopia's parliament ratified a treaty that grants
permission to upstream countries to implement irrigation and
hydropower projects without Egypt's approval. The agreement
replaces a colonial-era treaty which granted Egypt and Sudan the
majority of Nile River water rights.
‘Intl law has no answer to water disputes’
Journalist and commentator on the Middle East Adel Darwish told
RT that in this case international law proves itself inadequate
in defending the equal use of shared water.
“The international law is not clear about water and water
usage. If it’s a river it’s a different law from whether it’s a
lake or a sea. So when water crosses borders then you have
reasons for conflicts because international law is not clear on
what to do on water disputes.”
Nations should rationally share their common supplies and not
politicize their disputes, he added.
“Now between Egypt and Ethiopia a very dangerous situation is
about to explode because the Egyptian, the Sudanese and the
Ethiopians are playing a political game rather than trying to
find an economic investment that is a win-win for everybody.
Perhaps the Sudanese and the Egyptians should give the Ethiopians
some type of subsidized crops, grains, give them even subsidized
power so they would build a smaller dam rather than building a
huge one. Politics seem to be blinding politicians to see the
actual economic needs that could divert the conflict.”
Among other conflicts is the problem in Syria as its major water
sources travel through Turkey and Iraq , making the country
vulnerable, Darwish noted.
“You have the whole area of Syria, Iraq and Turkey that
nearly came into conflict with each other in the late 1980s when
the Turkish had the Southern Anatolia project, the Ataturk Dam.
We don’t know what the outcome of the Syrian war is going to be.
We might actually have some kind of a hostile regime to Turkey,
so the Turks could use some kind of water weapon there.”
Growing population and industrial demands have tripled water
withdrawals around the world over the last 50 years, UN figures
show. As the world’s per capita water supply is expected to drop
by one third in the next 20 years, the worst strain will be in
Africa and the Middle East.
For more, watch the report by RT’s Paula Slier.