Water for Peace: Averting Water Wars

The battles of yesterday were fought over land. Those of today are over energy. But the battles of tomorrow will be over water. Managing intrastate and interstate disputes will become increasingly important so as to avert water wars. This book recommends three strategies: the first is to build international norms and rules over shared transnational water resources; the second is to build river-basin organizations (RBOs) and other cooperative mechanisms to manage and moderate water competition; and the third is the adoption of holistic and integrated national planning that puts the accent on water efficiency, conservation, pollution control, rainwater capture, and water recycling. If water is not to become the new battleground between nation-states, much greater interstate cooperation in an institutional framework is needed that what we have seen thus far.