We have for centuries used rivers to hurt our enemies. But before we change our behaviour, we must first reflect on it. At the UN conference, delegates have a chance to begin to put a stop to this. I mean the way we use water in war – or more specifically, as a tool towards violent political or military objectives, when water becomes a tactical weapon and a strategic battlefield resource. And I don’t just mean the awesome destructive force of floods – hundreds of children in Pakistan and twice as many adults drowned when a “ monsoon on steroids” burst the banks of the Indus River last summer – or agonising spells of drought. We really cannot live without it.īut as a professor of water security who focuses on its role in conflict, I know that water is death, too.
And it’s true: water nourishes, cleanses and even inspires the poetry and painting so desperately needed by our modern and rushed society. Note: This article from The Conversation was first published in March 2023Įxperts and leaders will soon come together in their thousands at the first UN conference dedicated to water in nearly half a century.Īt the conference, which begins on March 22 in New York, delegates will no doubt stress that “water is life”.
