News from the CEPA e-mail list

Water wars - new video (26/09/08)

Greetings everyone:

Here's news about a video of considerable relevance for Ramsar - the issue of water and the potential for water wars. The email comes from Meaghan Parker of the Environmental Change and Security Program of the

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. I recommend you watch the video (link below) but I also recommend you go to the ECSP web site and look here

http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1413&fuseaction=topics.publications&group_id=196904 for a  number of short, readable papers on managing water conflicts.

Our briefing notes on the World Wetlands Day slogan Upstream - Downstream: Water connects us all will soon be on the web and also 'winging' its way to you with our poster and other materials. In the briefing notes we touch upon just this subject of water wars through water scarcity issues and the challenges of transboundary basin management. I'm pleased (actually relieved!) to say we came to the same conclusion from our information sources as this video: despite predictions, water wars are the exception and not the rule. More on our WWD materials in another email.

Below is the message from Meaghan with the link to the video.

Best wishes, Sandra Hails, Ramsar Secretariat
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New Video “Water Wars or Water Woes?” Unveils Surprising Truths About Water, Conflict
ECSP Director Geoff Dabelko Describes Water's Role in Violence, Peace on YouTube
September 18, 2008

In the new video Water Wars or Water Woes? Water Management as Conflict Management,’ Environmental Change and Security Program (ECSP) Director Geoff Dabelko explains that although newspapers and politicians constantly warn of impending ‘water wars’, water rarely leads to interstate violence. By focusing on ‘water wars’ which evidence shows are extremely rare “we are missing a lot of what is important around conflict management around water,” argues Dabelko.

According to Dabelko, cooperative water management can also help resolve conflicts caused by unrelated problems, such as those between India and Pakistan or Israel and Palestine. “You’ve got to go through it to get out of the conflict and support a sustainable peace,” he says.

“Water Wars or Water Woes”? is the newest addition to ECSP’s YouTube channel, which was launched earlier this summer with “Population, Health, and Environment: Exploring the Connections,” which offers a lively, brief, and accessible explanation of population-health-environment (PHE) connections, with examples and photos from successful programs in the Philippines.

"Water Wars or Water Woes?" Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Emhgb_8ZwA

Meaghan Parker
Writer/Editor
Environmental Change and Security Program
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
One Woodrow Wilson Plaza
1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC  20004-3027
T. 202-691-4182, F. 202-691-4184
meaghan.parker@wilsoncenter.org; http://www.wilsoncenter.org/ecsp

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Sandra Hails, CEPA Programme Officer
Ramsar Convention Secretariat
Rue Mauverney 28, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 999 0176; Fax: +41 22 999 0169
E-mail: hails@ramsar.org
Web Site: http://ramsar.org
CEPA mini-Web site: http://ramsar.org/outreach_index.htm

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