Is Water Really Not Being Fought Over?

Anton Berkovsky and Arnon Soffer

2016

This article points out problems in the work of two American research teams, at Oregon State University and at the Pacific Institute in Oakland, on water disputes. We maintain that conclusions suggesting that no water disputes exist need to be reexamined. Likewise, those who consider the drilling or closing of a well as important as a conflict over the waters of the Euphrates or the Nile need to reconsider their definitions.

We therefore need to redefine terms such as disputes over water, water wars, and non-violent resolution. Current forecasts of climate change and population growth in Third World countries provide adequate reasons to recognize that the risk of water wars will rise in the future, rather than disappear as predicted.