Fifth World Water Forum: Paper Tiger or Path for Progress on Mideast Water Crisis?
DEVELOPMENTS
From March 16th to March 22nd, representatives from private industry and international organizations, activists, and government officials – in sum a record-breaking 28,000 participants – attended the Fifth World Water Forum in Istanbul, co-hosted by The World Water Council and the Turkish government. The Forum assembles every three years since its first convening in 1997 to address the affects and effects of population growth, climate change, pollution, and flooding on the world’s water resources. The forum was open to the public and featured a Virtual Meeting Space to allow those interested in water issues to share information and debate issues with others from around the world. The Forum also coincided with the release of the third edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report.
This year’s Forum focused on how the international credit crunch has hindered the progress of water and sanitation projects in developing nations, a theme of interest to countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), parts of which in 2008 experienced their worst drought in recent history. Water shortages in the MENA region continue to pose public health challenges and foment major regional conflict.
The Forum did not transpire without criticism from attendees and non-attendees alike. Forum critics claimed the conference was nothing more than a trade show for private industry seeking to privatize water resources. Others, citing the cost of registration, starting at 240 Euros for developing country participants, said the Forum was not easily accessible to all stakeholders. Activists staged protests outside the Forum, which resulted in violent clashes with riot police, arrests and deportations. Other critics staged an Alternative Forum to represent the needs of rural poor, the environment and organized labor.
BACKGROUND
Dwindling water resources – increasingly affected by pollution, agricultural and industrial initiatives, and population growth – have elevated the strategic importance of water in the MENA region, which is among the driest of the world, as water available per person continues to decline drastically in the region. Measured by stream flow, population, and evaporation rates, “water stress” exists in a country with less than 1,700 cubic meters per capita, while less than 1000 cubic meters of water per person is considered water shortage. The World Bank estimates that water availability per person in the MENA region is around 1,200 cubic meters per person per year, compared with an average of 7000 worldwide. Rarity and variability of precipitation, population growth, developmental pressures, and inefficient use and climate change are exacerbating factors for the water scarcity problem MENA residents face.
Water scarcity greatly hinders food production and often leads to hunger. It also poses obstacles to maintaining domestic and personal hygiene, which can result in outbreaks of water-washed diseases, such as scabies and trachoma. MENA countries have been forced to reuse treated wastewater for agriculture, industry, and to recharge aquifers. The risks associated with using treated wastewater for agriculture include the spread of bacteria, viruses, and a wide range of parasitic organisms. All of these diseases can have debilitating effects, to which children are particularly vulnerable.
The countries most seriously affected are Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Syria and Yemen. In Syria, a record three-year drought has decimated the agriculture sector, which accounts for 23% of its gross domestic product (GDP). The economic impact and resulting job loss has been particularly devastating in light of the global financial crisis, hemorrhaging jobs from the textile and electronics industries as well. Economists estimate that the unemployment rate has reached nearly 20%. Iran was subject to power cuts last summer when a severe drought slashed output from its hydroelectric power plants. Billions of dollars were lost in agriculture in what was considered to be the worst drought in a decade.
To further complicate the challenge of resource management, approximately 66% of the region’s water flows across international borders through shared rivers. Three major waterways: the Jordan, Nile and Tigris-Euphrates River systems provide much of the region’s water. The Yarmouk-Jordan River basin serves Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria. Mutual reliance on these resources has made water a catalyst for conflict, helping to spur confrontations such as the 1967 War (at least in part fomented by Syria’s attempts to divert water from Israel) and the Iran-Iraq War (many claim that disputes over water claims and availability were partially to blame). Recognition of water’s role as an obstacle in interstate relations has spurred numerous attempts at resolution, including diplomatic efforts (most notably the 1953-1955 U.S.-brokered Johnston negotiations) and bilateral and multilateral treaty efforts, ranging from the 1959 Agreement for the Full Utilization of Nile Waters to the 1994 Israeli-Jordanian Treaty.
Israel and its water-sharing neighbors face a number of challenges. Israel and Syria are still formally at war over Israel's occupation of the water-rich Golan Heights. Water is also a major source of strife between the Israelis and the Palestinians, who share the use of the Mountain Aquifer. Meanwhile, Israel and Jordan have made admirable attempts to jointly manage the Jordan River since signing a peace agreement in 1994. The two countries are considering desalination of seawater as a viable solution and are negotiating the Red-Dead canal project, which would pump up to two billion cubic meters of water each year from the Gulf of Eilat north to the ailing Dead Sea via the Kingdom of Jordan. The project is part of international efforts to raise water levels at the Dead Sea, which has been shrinking at the rate of one meter per year, largely due to the diversion of water from the Jordan River for agricultural and industrial use.
ANALYSIS
While the general tone and purpose of the Fifth World Water Forum seems to be diplomatic in its approach to reaching global consensus on critical current and future water issues, the Forum’s Virtual Meeting Space has provided a forum for finger-pointing and accusations. Safwat Abdel-Dayem, Executive Director of the Arab Water Council, posted a document titled “Right to Water in the Arab Occupied Territories” claiming that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and Syrians in the Golan Heights suffer from scarcity of water not because of limited resources, but rather because Israel dominates and plunders the water resources.
Accusations aside, progress is clearly being made on both the diplomatic and public health fronts. On the opening day of the forum, Israel and Egypt jointly voiced support for the Red-Dead canal project. The feasibility study for the project is expected to take about 2 years and will cost $15.5 million. The study is to be financed through a multi-donor trust fund, and the project itself could cost as much as $5 billion and take up to 20 years to complete.
While critics were quick to discredit the Forum, its discussions may have important implications for both public health and regional relations in the Middle East. General topics included technological innovation and infrastructure implementation strategies such as developments in desalination; inter-basin transfers, dams and reservoirs; groundwater use; and irrigation system efficiency; demand management; and wastewater reuse. Participants reflected on transboundary cooperation issues, including the role of third parties in international conflicts; the role of international basin organizations in assisting with harmonization of governance; the creation of standardized measurement methods and shared databases; the value of progressive confidence-building measures to overcome mistrust; dispute resolution mechanisms; and inventories of potential transboundary water concerns.
A high-level Arab regional subgroup identified priorities and necessary measures to improve water management, including implementing the right to water, promoting collaboration and information exchange, finding for water and sanitation; ensuring that water managers are in place to provide clean, continual water supply; and providing education about water resources. They stressed the importance of dialogue to reach agreement on equitable sharing, highlighted renewed efforts to promote dialogue with Turkey and Syria, and urged Arab countries to ratify existing international treaties on transboundary watercourses.
Concluding on World Water Day, the Forum presented a roster of nonbinding recommendations, the cornerstone of which was a Ministerial Declaration that failed to recognize water as a “human right” - language opposed by Brazil, Egypt, and the U.S. The declaration conceded only that access to safe drinking water and sanitation is “a basic human need." Some countries on the other side of the debate signed a separate document recognizing water as a "human right" and asking for future water forums to be organized by the United Nations, not by a private institution like the World Water Council.
While dissenters of the Fifth World Water Forum have many valid criticisms, the Forum has proved its utility in bringing together experts and policy makers to discuss a wide range of possible solutions and identify necessary steps toward solving the Middle East water crisis. However, whether or not the Forum was truly a fruitful venue for making progress on the issue of water scarcity largely depends on the willingness and commitment of each individual country to implement the recommendations and continue the dialogue on a regional level.