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Water Conflict Chronology
Updated November 2008:
Environment and Security Water Conflict Chronology (PDF)
Compiled by: Peter Gleick, Pacific Institute
In an ongoing effort to understand the connections between water resources, water
systems, and international security and conflict, the Pacific Institute initiated
a project in the late 1980s to track and categorize events related to water and
conflict. A list of water-related conflicts in the myths, legends, and history
of the ancient Middle East was published in Environment magazine (Gleick
1994) and this has formed the basis for our Water and Conflict Chronology.
Changes to Chronology Reflect New Data
Recent world events in the Middle East, Balkans, East Timor,
and other regions have, unfortunately, continued to lead to new
entries. And new information is being sent in all the time by
historians, water experts, and readers to update, correct, and
expand the current chronology. As a result, we have updated the
Chronology with new entries and a range of corrections and modifications. In
addition, we have made changes in how several of these entries are categorized.
The heading "Basis of Conflict" now offers, I think, a more clear
set of categories than the previous listing. The current categories, or types
of conflict, now include:
- Control of Water Resources (state and non-state
actors): where water supplies or access to water is at the root
of tensions.
- Military Tool (state actors): where water
resources, or water systems themselves, are used by a nation
or state as a weapon during a military action.
- Political Tool (state and non-state actors):
where water resources, or water systems themselves, are used
by a nation, state, or non-state actor for a political goal.
- Terrorism (non-state actors): where water
resources, or water systems, are either targets or tools of violence
or coercion by non-state actors.
- Military Target (state actors): where water
resource systems are targets of military actions by nations or
states.
- Development Disputes (state and non-state
actors): where water resources or water systems are a major source
of contention and dispute in the context of economic and social
development.
It will be clear to even the casual reader that these definitions
are imprecise and that single events can fall into more than one
category, depending on perception and definitions. For example,
intentional military attacks on water-supply systems can fall into
both the Targets and Tools categories,
depending on one’s point of view. Disputes over control of
water resources may reflect either political power disputes or
disagreements over approaches to economic development, or both.
We believe this is inevitable and even desirable – international
security is not a clean, precise field of study and analysis. It
is evolving as international and regional politics evolves and
as new factors become increasingly, or decreasingly, important
in the affairs of humanity. In all this, however, one factor remains
constant: the importance of water to life means that providing
for water needs and demands will never be free of politics. As
social and political systems change and evolve, this chronology
and the kinds of entries and categories will change and evolve.
I continue to look forward to contributions and comments from readers.
Please email contributions, with full citations and supporting
information, to Peter Gleick using our Contact
Page.
Additional References
Gleick, P.H. 1994. "Water, war, and peace in the Middle
East." Environment Vol.
36, No. 3, pp.6-on. Heldref Publishers, Washington.
Gleick, P.H. 1998. "Water and conflict." (See Chronologies A and B.)
In P.H. Gleick, The World’s Water 1998-1999, Island Press, Washington,
D.C. pp. 105-135.
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