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NewSecurityBeat

The blog of the Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Program
Showing posts by Aaron Wolf.
  • Harnessing the Benefits of Water Cooperation in an Increasingly Complex World

    ›
    Guest Contributor  //  March 21, 2025  //  By Susanne Schmeier, Melissa McCracken & Aaron Wolf

    In an era of apparent decline in international cooperation and rising crises, freshwater offers an area in which joint approaches remain absolutely essential—especially since water often transcends the boundaries of nation-states. 

    Cooperation has long been the preferred approach in dealing with water resources shared with neighboring countries. Since the first—and so far, only—water war in 2550 B.C.E., states have favored cooperative action over conflict to manage, protect, or develop our planet’s 313 transboundary surface water basins and 468 transboundary aquifers.

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  • Tracking Conflict and Cooperation Over the World’s International Freshwater Resources

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    Guest Contributor  //  March 20, 2023  //  By Alexandra Caplan, Melissa McCracken, Susanne Schmeier, Zoe Rosenblum & Aaron Wolf
    TFDD_Basins_GlobalMap_color_Cropped

    Waters that cross international political borders can drive the countries that share them to conflict—or encourage cooperation between them. Indeed, since the 1940s, overall trends point to a tendency for countries to cooperate over shared water resources, which stands in stark contrast to media portrayals of “water wars.”

    Yet instances of conflict over water have increased slightly since 2000. Why? Most of them are fueled by water quantity disputes or the unilateral development of dams or other infrastructure. Institutions often play a key role in facilitating cooperation (and reducing conflict) over shared waters, but their growth and adoption have slowed over the last two to three decades.

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  • To Reduce Future Conflicts over Water, Reconceptualize “Shared Waters”

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    Guest Contributor  //  Uncharted Territory  //  February 3, 2020  //  By Aaron Wolf & Mckenna Coffey

    Wolf-645x430In the years ahead, climate change and the proliferation of new technologies and information availability will require us to reshape our vision of shared waters. Because these megatrends are experienced in concert, the opportunities, challenges, and uncertainties for shared water management will continue to compound over time.

    While it is impossible to know precisely how shared water will look in the future, we should already be working to expand how we conceptualize shared waters, address inequities embedded within water management, and develop criteria and processes that successfully identify and include non-traditional shared water actors in decision-making. These shifts will strengthen our ability to generate creative and sustainable management strategies and help us avoid water-related conflicts.

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