Jordan River: Source of Life and Source of Conflict

摘要

Clean fresh water is the lifeblood of human existence. In some parts of the world, this essential resource is undeniably quite scarce - a scarcity which contributes to the belief that violence or armed conflict over water will eventually occur. This perception is no more strongly held than in one of the planet's most severely waterstressed regions - the Jordan River basin in the Middle East. This essay strives to address the fundamental issue of how fresh water could be the cause of violence or armed conflict in the western Middle East. It examines a number of the more significant areas where water is a recognized challenge between the populations and governments of that part of the world and suggests the relative significance that water plays as a determinant of conflict in each of those areas. In the end, it affirms the widely held belief that water has an important role in conflict generation, while at the same time, it suggests that in some areas where water-related issues exist, other determinants are present that relegate water to a secondary factor of potential conflict.