Water scarcity in river basins as a security problem.

This report looks at how water scarcity triggers intensifies and generates regional instability and other security problems. The introduction emphasizes the importance of water its unique characteristics as a natural resource and the causes of the proliferation of water disputes. The next section presents an analytical model that defines "scarcity" and "security" and outlines the variables that cause water scarcity (increased demand decreased supply and impeded access to available supplies) the variables that affect the stability of institutional structures and the link to security. Then the following case studies are used to illustrate how various factors interact with water scarcity to threaten security: 1) the Jordan River Basin where water scarcity combines with catalytic conditions caused by a lack of cooperation sustained by historical tensions; 2) the Nile River Basin where scarcity exists but the level of conflict does not match that in the first example; and 3) the Mekong River where existing water-sharing mechanisms may be unable to defuse the tensions caused by water scarcity. The report ends by offering policy recommendations that call for promoting education improving living conditions protecting human and ecological health allocating sufficient resources to address water scarcity and creating international water regimes.