The growing natural and demographic pressures on water resources demand a strong cross-sector collaboration.
Climate change is increasingly seen as a threat multiplier with wide-reaching impacts on global security. Not least can rising temperatures alter the water cycle in dangerous ways causing droughts and floods, which make access to water much more unpredictable. There is also increasing pressure on water resources from rapidly growing populations, rising demand, expanding industries, and unsustainable land use. All these factors can trigger water scarcity, hunger, and conflict. At the same time, crises can also create opportunities for change, cooperation, and the inclusion of broader stakeholder groups.
The growing pressure on water resources is a challenge that should be at the crux of the climate and security debate. However, the traditional approach to security often fails to assess and address threats linked to natural resources and human development. There is a strong need for experts from different fields to work together to find solutions for climate-smart security. Transboundary water cooperation and water diplomacy offer two promising avenues for peace and conflict resolution.
New vulnerabilities
The first step towards informed decisions on climate-smart security, conflict prevention, and environmental peacebuilding is to understand the emergence of new threats and threat multipliers. Environmental degradation and climate risks often disproportionally affect poor and marginalized groups, exacerbating their vulnerability. Such situations are increasingly exploited by criminal gangs, terror groups and local militias to advance their positions. Though violent non-state actors do not emerge as a direct result of climate change, the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation can make it easier for them to gain ground.
In the paper, Tracing Intersections of COVID-19: Gender, Water and Armed Conflict, SIWI experts explored the security impacts of the global pandemic in fragile and conflict-affected states. In many of these countries, the population suffers from a lack of basic services such as healthcare, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). This was often already the case before Covid-19 – typically linked to ineffective institutions, low levels of trust and ongoing conflicts – but the pandemic has aggravated the situation. For armed non-state actors, this has opened new opportunities which they have been quick to take advantage of. By offering water and other services that people desperately need, they aim to win the hearts and minds of local populations. And if armed non-state actors manage to take full control of water resources, local communities are very vulnerable to exploitation. It is therefore extremely important to strengthen access to basic services and improve water governance in fragile contexts.
Natural resources
Research also indicates that sustainable management of natural resources can reduce the risk of armed conflict, which is yet another reason why we need to heed the growing threats to food security and the livelihoods of local communities. SIWI has several ongoing projects that aim to improve the livelihoods of people while also protecting ecosystems, for example through more sustainable farming, forestry, and landscape management.
Transboundary water cooperation
Since more than half the global population lives in transboundary river basins, cooperation over shared water resources is another key component to strengthen economies, as well as ecosystems.
SIWI works with states sharing the same water resource to raise awareness of the benefits of cooperation over shared waters and to develop the necessary frameworks, institutions, and processes for information exchange. SIWI also helps foster community resilience against waves of “fake news” about transboundary water cooperation.
Water diplomacy
Since water is often transboundary in nature, it offers natural entry points for dialogue. SIWI facilitates dialogues over shared waters, involving both state and non-state actors. We also offer experience-sharing platforms and capacity-strengthening activities to meet the steadily rising demand for knowledge about water diplomacy, especially the linkages between political and technical tracks.
