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8/9/2019 Political Violence in the ME
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Dario deCamara Eubank
Political Violence in the Middle East
Professor Robinson
Essay # 4
Water, it covers all corners of the globe and provides humanity the ability to produce
foods and provide for other materials. In some areas of the world there is enough to provide for
the people of the area, in other areas its scarce and groups compete for this resource. This is
evident in areas of extreme heat and desert, like the Sub Sahara Africa and the Middle East
which suffer from drought, desiccation and water stress (Morrissette and Borer, 2004). For the
most part, the wars that were fought in the Middle East were over who controls the vast oil
supply, not the water supply. In coming years through this might change and nations might once
again have to compete for a precious natural resource in order to insure their survival. But can
this bleak future be avoided? Can Middle Eastern states adapt to the growing populations and the
needs of these people in their borders? I believe the answer is yes; they must adapt to insure their
survival, because the alternatives of war or civil unrest would surely bring about their demise.
While Morrissette and Borer do not share my optimism on this topic, their article Where
Oil and Water do Mix: Environmental Scarcity and Future Conflict in the Middle East and
North Africa provides us all the reasons why war in the Middle East will be fought over water.
While their research is correct they did not take into account the massive amount of money and
materials that are going into the water infrastructure that is taking place in the Middle East today.
After discussing the issues in the ME and the authors views on the topic, I would like to take a
look at the future solutions that the ME countries are coming up, that will hopefully keep this
war(s) from happening.
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Problems in the Middle East
If war over water is on the horizon like Morrissette and Borer predict, this will happen
due to a mix bag of factors. Population growth that the ME region has experienced has put great
pressures on the current water table, the lack of fresh water sources; the Nile, Tigris/ Euphrates
river do not have enough water for the region and underground aquifers are slowly drying up. A
lack of robust water infrastructure, failure of governments to adopt more pragmatic solutions to
their water issues and lack of diversity in goods they provide to the world market will all bring
this crisis to bear. In the article, Where Oil and Water do Mix: Environmental Scarcity and
Future Conflict in the Middle East and North Africa, these issues are discussed but the main
issue that will further make this crisis worse is the governments of these countries not having
long term sustainable plans for their water needs. The need for water must be solved from a
multi- phased approach and the countries should develop plans with neighboring countries to
avoid any confrontation in this matter. But as we know of the history of the ME and its relations
with its neighbors, this is extremely tricky, and takes time.
While certain countries do have an understanding and set up a partnership on water
issues, with one example being Israel and Jordan, this has still led to many problems. Israel and
Syria, in the 1960s had a back and forth battle over who controlled the Jordan river and while the
eventual war that did happen was not over water, who controlled the water and allowed access to
it was a big factor. Still using the example of Israel, Palestinian West Bank residents rely on
Israel to provide 90% of its basic water needs, but if there are times of unrest or the government
of Israel wants to send a message they have the ability to cancel water contracts and distribution
and use it as a weapon. This approach coupled with the drought that is taking place is placing
more Palestinian people at risk and decreasing crop output.
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While the Middle East has no abundant source of drinkable/irrigation water that can meet
their needs, they do receive the water in other forms. As the article discusses most of these
countries have bypassed the lack of drinkable water, by buying virtual water or water that is in
other forms (Morrissette and Borer, 2004). One particular important source of virtual water
comes in the form of grain, which the countries import from the US and Europe. While this
enables this countries to provide for their citizens, the main problem with relying on this form of
virtual water is the cost of grain in recent years has shot up and certain countries in the MENA
region could not afford to purchase the grain. While countries that have oil are able to offset the
cost by having money to purchase the goods they need, other countries that lack a stable
economy will be hurting. If these prices continue to behave in this manner and the economies of
the Middle East do not adapt then according to the authors, war will be inevitable.
Middle East Plan
While the authors show that conflict in the ME do to water is not a matter of if but when,
they did not take into account that regimes are already dealing with this crisis, or at least the ones
that have the money to invest in along term water program. According to the CCC (California
Costal Commission), over 60% of the worlds desalination plants are in the ME, thats well over
4,000 plants (CCC 1993) , with the largest plant in Saudi Arabia which can pump out over 300
million metric tons of water per year (Industrial Info Resources). An estimated 100 billion
dollars is being spent on water projects across the region, and in UAE there are spending 15
billion on a waste water treatment plant with 120 billion planned on being invested in the region
by 2020, the ME will soon have water ready and will not have to rely so heavily on virtual water
for its needs (Industrial Info Resources).
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While the consensus is that these countries that have desal plants need huge amounts of
energy; in the case of Saudi Arabia its through petroleum, to turn seawater into drinkable water,
there is a push to use nuclear power plants as an unlimited source of energy needed for these
plants. In the article Seawater Desalination by Using Nuclear Power, in 1993 the International
Atomic Energy Agency concluded that using nuclear energy to desalinate seawater could be
carried out safely and reliably, without any technical obstacles. To date there are over 11 nuclear
power plants around that world that are providing water at a much cheaper cost and are more
environmentally friendly. The only problem with this approach is that by placing nuclear reactors
in the ME it could pose a security problem or lead these countries to somehow produce nuclear
material for other purposes, but with constant checks and measures by the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) this can be avoided.
While this investment is all possible due to oil wealth other countries that lack the capital
to develop a sound water system must interact with their neighbors to develop a long term
solution to their water needs. Iraq, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, Syria all must develop strategies to
deal with each countries water needs so that they can avoid any future conflicts over water.
Future of the Middle East
While the authors laid out a vey bleak future for the MENA region they failed to look at
how governments in these countries are taking proactive measures to meet their water needs.
The technology is out there and with enough money invested ME countries can create their own
water supply, but even then they must negotiate with each other, especially the countries that do
not have a huge oil supply if they are to ensure that there will not be conflict over water. The US
and Europe also play a important role in ensuring peace in the region; by keeping the world grain
price down and stable, they can take off the economic pressure in buying virtual water that some
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of the poor countries in the region have. Investment in new plumbing, pipes and water pipe lines
will help reduce water waste which can also help poorer countries in an effort to conserve the
water they do receive. Overall, the governments in the region must act accordingly to avoid any
conflict and continue to construct more plants and find ways of conserving water in their desert
environments, if they can accomplish this then the War of Water can be avoided.
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Works Cited
Morrissette, Jason and Borer. Where Oil and Water do Mix: Environmental Scarcity and
Future
Conflict in the Middle East and North Africa. ParametersWinter 2004-2005
California Costal Commission: Seawater Desalination in California
http://www.coastal.ca.gov/desalrpt/dchap1.html. (accessed on 12/11/2008)
West Bank residents face severe water shortage as drought continues.
Associated Press, 7/27/2008
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1005890.html. (accessed on 12/11/2008)
Water and Desalination Projects in Middle East Likely to Attract $120 Billion in Investments by
2020. Industrial Info Resources
http://www.pump-zone.com/global-news/global-news/water-and-desalination-projects-in-
middle-east-likely-to-attract-120-billion-in-investments-by-2020.html. (accessed on 12/11/2008)
Seawater Desalination by Using Nuclear Power. China Education and Research Network
http://www.edu.cn/20010101/22349.shtml. (accessed on 12/11/2008)
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http://www.coastal.ca.gov/desalrpt/dchap1.htmlhttp://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1005890.htmlhttp://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1005890.htmlhttp://www.pump-zone.com/global-news/global-news/water-and-desalination-projects-in-middle-east-likely-to-attract-120-billion-in-investments-by-2020.htmlhttp://www.pump-zone.com/global-news/global-news/water-and-desalination-projects-in-middle-east-likely-to-attract-120-billion-in-investments-by-2020.htmlhttp://www.edu.cn/20010101/22349.shtmlhttp://www.coastal.ca.gov/desalrpt/dchap1.htmlhttp://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1005890.htmlhttp://www.pump-zone.com/global-news/global-news/water-and-desalination-projects-in-middle-east-likely-to-attract-120-billion-in-investments-by-2020.htmlhttp://www.pump-zone.com/global-news/global-news/water-and-desalination-projects-in-middle-east-likely-to-attract-120-billion-in-investments-by-2020.htmlhttp://www.edu.cn/20010101/22349.shtml