October 24, 2008

The new 'blue gold'


As the 'dark gold', water is a crucial current issue. In fact, water is needed by everyone to survive but also by human's activities (agriculture, industries, hobbies...). That's why, water can generate conflicts between populations or states.
Despite, there is enough water in the world, there are a lot of water conflicts because this one is extremely badly distributed : some countries have got too much water (Canada...) whereas others haven't got enough (Egypt...).
So many conflicts were, are and will be linked to water : for instance, the Six Day War which opposed Israel against Egypt, Syria and Jordan in 1967 that enabled to supply the country with water by conquering new territories ; other example : the dispute between Turkey, Syria and Iraq about the Euphrates river and the Tigris river ; last example : the tension between Canada and the United States of America about the Great Lakes.

However, most of these conflicts end up by peaceful resolutions and sometimes by cooperation agreements.


To know more :

Clés de l'actualité n°611

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The water is very essential, even if too much people use it for nothing ! Yet, the water starts to disappear !

Anonymous said...

At the moment, I'm reading a book about the problems
in TIBET. The author speaks about conflicts between
this country and CHINA. There is a conflict for WATER.
The land of snow is the most important provider of
water for all Asia. Big rivers, like Brahmapoutre,
Gange and Yangzi (the longest river of China) are born
in Tibet. So, China wants to control this part of the
world to be sure that it has got enough water.
To know more, see the book, page 80. Frederic Lenoir
- "Tibet, moment de vérité" - Plon - French Language.