Water: Asia's New BattlegroundWinner of the Asia Society's Bernard Schwartz 2012 Book Award The battles of yesterday were fought over land. Those of today are over energy. But the battles of tomorrow may be over water. Nowhere is that danger greater than in water-distressed Asia. Water stress is set to become Asia’s defining crisis of the twenty-first century, creating obstacles to continued rapid economic growth, stoking interstate tensions over shared resources, exacerbating long-time territorial disputes, and imposing further hardships on the poor. Asia is home to many of the world's great rivers and lakes, but its huge population and exploding economic and agricultural demand for water make it the most water-scarce continent on a per capita basis. Many of Asia’s water sources cross national boundaries, and as less and less water is available, international tensions will rise. The potential for conflict is further underscored by China’s unrivaled global status as the source of transboundary river flows to the largest number of countries, ranging from India and Vietnam to Russia and Kazakhstan; yet a fast-rising China has declined to enter into water-sharing or cooperative treaties with these states, even as it taps the resources of international rivers. Water: Asia’s New Battleground is a pioneering study of Asia’s murky water politics and the relationships between fresh water, peace, and security. In this unique and highly readable book, Brahma Chellaney expertly paints a larger picture of water across Asia, highlights the security implications of resource-linked territorial disputes, and proposes real strategies to avoid conflict and more equitably share Asia’s water resources. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Global Water Crisis Hub | 8 |
2 Murky Hydropolitics | 47 |
The Worlds Most Unique Water Repository | 95 |
A Key Test Case | 141 |
5 Managing Intrastate Water Conflicts | 198 |
6 Mitigating Intercountry Water Disputes or Discord | 243 |
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agriculture aquifers areas Arunachal Pradesh Asia Asia’s Asian Bangladesh become Beijing Bhutan border Brahmaputra building Burma capita Central challenges China China’s water Chinese Climate Change conflict cooperation countries country’s dam-building demand Development downstream ecological economic ecosystems energy Environment environmental export fact flooding freshwater glaciers global groundwater growing Himalayan hydrological hydropower impact India Indus Waters Indus Waters Treaty industrial infrastructure international rivers irrigation issue Kashmir Kazakhstan kilometers Kyrgyzstan land major megaprojects Mekong meters million natural Nepal Pakistan People’s Republic percent plans political pollution population Province region reservoirs rice riparian River basin river flows river waters Salween share South South–North Water strategic supply territorial Three Gorges Dam Tibet Tibetan Plateau tion transboundary United Nations upstream water availability water crisis water disputes water diversion water resources water scarcity water shortages water stress water withdrawals western world’s largest Yangtze Yellow River Yunnan