Executive Summary
This work is a result of the research conducted by a researcher from the United Nations. It seeks to examine the root causes of tensions arising from the water resources around the Jordan River Basin, the significance of this region to its occupants. According to the findings, The Jordan River Basin not only provides water for basic human uses but also for both subsistence and commercial agriculture, hence controls levels of economic growth for the surrounding states. The paper also anticipate identifying the most crucial areas and recommendations were made. Among the critical areas identified, include agreements for sharing existing resources, negotiation over the mountain aquifer as well as a Med-Dead Canal as cooperation- inducing desalination project.
Conflicts in the Middle East, especially when reported in the media have always been associated with different factors including religion, battle over oil, politics and other reasons. However, water has become an essential factor that has since kept these wars fuelled for a very long time yet much attention have just been focusing on the other superficial causes. Water, therefore, has in the recent past become a very important factor in the recent disputes (Sofer 4).
The area along the Jordan River Basin also includes parts of Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Jordan and West Bank. This region is primarily arid and is supplied by the system of Jordan and Yarmuk rivers. Yarmuk River flows from Syria. The rivers play a crucial role in agriculture and the development of these states. With an arid climate associated with this region as well as low precipitation experienced, water has become a very essential commodity in the region.
Some of the poorest countries in Middle East come from the Jordan River Basin whose principle source of water also happens to be groundwater aquifers. The rate and purpose for water use along this basin varies, Israel using the greatest amount while Jordan comes second in the hierarchy. The Israeli-occupied West Bank is known to use the smallest amount. In fact, the world’s lowest daily amount of water per person is in the Jordan Water Basin (Sofer 6).
Disagreements here result from the patterns of water use as well as overuse and territorial issues arising from politics. Constant population increase, both from natural increase as well as immigration into this region especially the Israelites has resulted into so many challenges especially about managing the scarce water resources. Jordan River has suffered reduced volume due to the construction or building of reservoirs on the Yarmuk River. Inexistence of a legitimate water sharing agreement among these countries has resulted into Israel and Syria taking over the water supplies. There exists a point of contention along the mountain aquifer underneath the West Bank, putting Israel and Palestine in conflict. Here it is felt that the Israeli state and settlers dominate underground supplies since they even wall off the Palestinians from accessing the invaluable resource. In terms of pricing, Palestinians are charged approximately three times the cost of water emanating from under the West Bank, also known as Villiers compared to Israeli Settlers. This would obviously result into the witnessed tensions because water is such a vital resource in various levels of human survival and for which no substitute ever exists; ignoring political boundaries, fluctuates in space and time and always has multiple and conflicting demands based on its use. In fact in the worst scenarios, armies have been mobilized to fire shorts over the precious but scarce resource.
The solutions to the perennial conflicts along the Jordan River Basin by the United Nations should entail encouragement for cooperation induction. The United Nations should develop a regional water development plan to incorporate political realities of the region including the limitations triggered by hydrology and economics steps to taken in its implementation. The organization should then champion advocacy for the adoption of this plan especially among the riparian’s of the Jordan Watershed so that an agreement be reached so that the regional water crisis and associated conflicts can be addressed. Besides, the UN should also step up its efforts towards neutralizing political tensions that that may be noticed during the times of dire water scarcity.
Examples of cooperation inducing implementations that could be applied by the UN include; control of a riparian entity’s major water resources is of primary concern and is therefore necessary to be keen on addressing not only the past but also present grievances as a prerequisite for market-driven solution. Similarly, it is worth noting that various opportunities for cooperation may be hidden within the details of each entity’s bargaining concerns. Having observed all these, the body can thus proceed from the practical compromises to a continuously progressing cooperation and integration while always being careful to remain on the cutting edge of political relations.
In the process of negotiation, it is important to point out the need to the agreed parties the need for the allocation of existing resources as this would ensure effective ironing of both the past and present grievances. For instance, the agreement between Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan between 1953 and 1955 was never ratified as the Palestinians were not considered a separate entity at the time; consequently, received no explicit allocation. The UN should thus consider updated guidelines for the allocation of Jordan River watershed with an emphasis directed to Jordan, Israel as well as the Gaza and West Bank Palestinians. In doing this, each party's definition of the term "equity" should be the issue at heart of the negotiation process because the term is so vague and relative in most events and its criteria are quite difficult to determine especially in water conflicts. This is often the case where international legal guidelines are not properly developed.
The criteria by which water conflicts should be assessed include the recognition of the fact that the state has an absolute right to waters flowing through its borders. That any territory along the river course has rights or responsibility to a relatively unchanged river, prior appropriation, optimum development of the river basin as well as reasonable share, equitable use and relative sovereignty. Other such measures as economic efficiency, rights of proportional amounts of water resource within a territory and per capita allocation to every riparian state should also be considered. However, in the absence of any of the agreement among the above described, the UN should consider the use of force to achieve equity based on the definition of the party with greater power.
The United Nations for successful negotiations should also take the issue of “control” into account. For example, water for subsistence agriculture as well as that for personal needs is clearly the most fundamental human need. Sometimes, a nation's economy may also depend on a reliable source of water for commercial agriculture as well as industry (Gleick 4). There thus consequently arises the need to control a stable water source in an environment of co-riparian who could in most cases be hostile. This matter has in the past led to increased conflicts over water resources. For example, during the Johnston negotiations the Unified Arabs resisted storage of the Yarmuk in the sea of Galilee (in Israel) even though it was seen to be less expensive that constructing a new storage facility. Israel then objected to international control of annual allocations, citing infringement of sovereignty. The state has also recently resisted proposals of water imports from sources such as Egypt and Turkey (Sofer 2). Therefore, between the issues of equity and control, the United Nations negotiations should develop clear policies taking into account that these issues would be contentious with conflicting claims as well as criteria for evaluation.
Another contentious area that the United Nations needs to consider is the status of the mountain aquifer, especially, in issues pertaining to Israelis and Palestinians. Both Israel and West Bank Palestinians claim the underground water. The UN should thus examine this aspect of water conflict closely and gain insights on how to resolve it (Carman 10). The mountain aquifer comprises of three hydrological units, which all recharge in the Judean Hills on West Bank. These are the Western aquifer flowing west to Israel and Mediterranean, the eastern aquifer, which flows into the Jordan River as well as the northeast aquifer flowing towards Jezreel Valley. The total consumption within the West Bank is 35MCM per year. These are mostly from the wells and are apparently for Israeli settlements. On the other hand, Palestinians utilize approximately 115MCM per year from both wells and cisterns (Gleick 7). Israel claims these aquifers are citing historical rights to the water use, which it considers irrevocable. Because of this, the nation has been pumping the western aquifer from its side since as early as 1955. Israel considers measures taken to resist Palestinians from pumping on West Bank as defensive and necessary for controlling Israeli water. Similarly, Palestinians claim first right to all the water emanating from the West Bank and have since objected to Israeli’s control. The UN should therefore not accept claims by either of these sides but should instead consider the future per capita needs as a basis for both claims so that the loss from either side is made up through desalination, inter-basins transfers, and wastewater reclamation or water purchases. Cuts should also be made from a variety of sources (Bulloch & Adel 2).
Works Cited
Bulloch, John, and Adel Darwish. Water Wars: Coming Conflicts in the Middle East. London: Victor Gollancz, 2010. Print.
Carman, Patrick. Rivers of Fire. New York: Little, Brown, 2009. Print.
Gleick, Peter H. "Water, War & Peace in the Middle East." Environment 2.1 (2010): 4-7. Print.
Sofer, Arnon. Rivers of Fire: The Conflict Over Water in the Middle East. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1999. Print.
