BLOG
Water Governance in the Tigris-Euphrates Basin
September 22nd, 2016
Via Future Directions International, a report on water governance in the Tigris-Euphrates basin: Key Points The states that share the water resources of the Tigris-Euphrates Basin have come close to creating a water sharing agreement in the past, but narrow self-interest derailed the project. Current regional political crises were caused, in part, by heightened food […]
Read more »Iraq: The Land Between Two Threatened Rivers
August 11th, 2016
Via Future Directions International, a look at Iraq’s water crisis: Key Points Iraq depends on surface water from the Tigris-Euphrates river system for almost all of its water and increased groundwater exploitation over the past decade could exhaust aquifers by 2030. Infrastructural damage, sustained after decades of government mismanagement, neglect and war, will continue to […]
Read more »The Regional Story Behind Afghanistan’s Salma Dam
June 6th, 2016
Via The Wire, a report on the recently completed Salma dam in Herat, Afghanistan: For over ten years, the construction of the Salma dam has stretched the capacity of Indian diplomacy, administration and engineering to its limits, as New Delhi kept track of competing warlords on one side to maintain security, and the finance ministry’s beancounters on Raisina […]
Read more »Water and Insecurity In The Levant
May 9th, 2016
Via the European Union’s Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), a look at how the Middle East needs to join together to address common technical, political, and security issues to avoid water-driven instability: The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is the most water-stressed area in the world. In the Levant sub-region, Jordan, Syria, West Bank/Gaza, […]
Read more »The Water Wars Waged By The Islamic State
November 25th, 2015
Courtesy of STRATFOR (subscription required), detailed analysis of the Islamic State’s use of water in its fight to establish a caliphate: The Islamic State’s use of natural resources to achieve its strategic goals is nothing new. Oil, one of the group’s biggest sources of funding, plays an especially important role in its calculations — something […]
Read more »Iraq Faces Escalating Water Crisis
August 12th, 2015
Via Future Directions International, a report on Iraq’s water crisis: Background Widespread power and water shortages in Iraq have triggered protests across Iraq, causing Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to warn of growing revolutionary sentiments if the government fails to find quick solutions. Ongoing conflict and violence since the US-led invasion in 2003 has hampered efforts to re-develop […]
Read more »