Turning water into peace: the miracle of hydrodiplomacy

BEIRUT: The future threat of water scarcity in the Middle East has sparked fears that a “water war” could ignite in the region. According to hydro-diplomacy expert Hussein Amery, in his report entitled “Water Wars in the Middle East: A Looming Threat,” he writes that water could tip the already delicate political balance in the region.

“The emotion with which water is viewed aggravates already volatile situations,” said Amery. “Society sometimes responds with violence if people are denied sufficient access to a vital resource like water.” 

As water becomes a powerful and undeniable source of tension between Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon in particular, this tension could also be channeled positively, towards an agreement for peace. 

Regulated access to the vital resource could be a strong motivator for cooperation on other issues that have blocked progress in the past. 

Director General of the Ministry of Energy and Water (MEW) in Lebanon, Fadi Comair, introduces his ideas on the subject in his recent book, “Water Management and Hydro-diplomacy in the Middle East,” suggesting that the waters of the Jordan River Basin should be equitably managed by a single, multinational water authority. 

He argues that this idea, which he outlines as the “New Mass Water Concept,” could “present a solution … to reach a sustainable peace in the region.” 

Comair believes “this approach of a New Water Mass will allow the restitution of the Arab countries’ occupied territories of 1967 such as the Golan Heights in Syria and the Shebaa Farms in Lebanon,” whose occupation, he says, is largely linked to the importance of the areas for Israel to secure access to water. 

Access to water also has economic implications that can reverberate politically. Following the Israeli withdrawal in 2000 from Southern Lebanon, Amery writes that “capturing and delivering fresh water are, among other factors, pivotal to the re-economic development of recently liberated towns and villages of South Lebanon,” a factor that also influences stability. When Israel attacked Lebanon in 2006, the water infrastructure of the South was one of its prime targets. 

If its water resources were managed with hydro-diplomacy in mind, Lebanon has the potential to put itself in a strong position for bargaining. It has more ample water resources than Israel, Palestine, and Jordan, and is the source of the Litani, which flows into the sea, and the Orontes, known by the Lebanese as Al-Assi, which flows into Syria. It shares the Al-Kabir river basin with Syria, and the Hasbani River, though a tributary of the Jordan River, flows southeast into Israel. 

According to Stefan Schurig, Director of Climate and Energy for the World Future Council, Lebanon’s water is also more than just a bargaining chip on the table. Schurig suggested during a recent speech at the American University of Beirut that another way for Lebanon to leverage itself politically in the context of limited resources would be to become more energy independent. 

Schurig said the country should lessen its dependence on foreign energy by exploiting wind and water: the two sources of renewable energy that it already has in abundance. 

Schurig also argued that energy independence in Lebanon would translate to it being able to enjoy greater political independence in the Middle East. 

“Producing [energy] means producing more political power. Alternative power is a mechanism to address many other issues … even war and peace,” he said. 

According to Schurig, a transition to energy independence could come about naturally if the right mechanisms were to be put in place to begin “mobilizing the private sector with measures at the government level to self-motivate consumers and trigger market forces that will lead to new job creation.” 

In light of increasing debate on the issue of water in the region, the role of water appears to be of tantamount importance for Lebanon; not only for its utility value for citizens, but for its ability to support the country’s future diplomacy efforts. 

The possibility to transform water into a positive political tool through effective management of the resource is an opportunity that should not be lost, for Lebanon or for the region. 

As Comair concludes optimistically in his book, through the development of greater cooperation on the basis of a mutual need for this vital fluid, “water will then be the force of understanding for the application of a ‘peace culture’ in the Middle East.”