Are Water Wars a Fantasy, or a Future Reality?
Thalif Deen STOCKHOLM, Aug 29 (IPS) – The Middle East, one of the world’s perennial war zones, has traditionally been blessed with a surfeit of oil and cursed by a scarcity of water. The irony, says one Arab diplomat half-jokingly, is that whenever energy-rich Gulf states dig for water, they invariably strike oil. The longstanding speculation among some political experts is that the world’s future wars will be fought over water, not oil. Asked whether she subscribes to this view, Sunita Narain, the winner of the 2005 Stockholm Water Prize, said: “Water wars are not inevitable. It lies in our hands — and in our minds.” The award, including 150,000 dollars in cash and a crystal sculpture, was presented by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden at a formal ceremony in Stockholm last week. Narain, director of the Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi and publisher of the widely-acclaimed environmental magazine Down to Earth, said water is very different from oil. “Water is a replenishab
