Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Water Conflicts, Megalopolises and Hydrodiplomacy

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Earth at Risk in the 21st Century: Rethinking Peace, Environment, Gender, and Human, Water, Health, Food, Energy Security, and Migration

Part of the book series: Pioneers in Arts, Humanities, Science, Engineering, Practice ((PAHSEP,volume 18))

  • 353 Accesses

Abstract

During the last few decades, scientific and popular literature about internal and international water conflicts has increased (Westing 2013a, b; Gleick 2004; Homer-Dixon 1999, 2000), and international organisations (UNESCO 2016; UNESCO-IHP 2001; UNESCO-WWAP 2012; WB 2012; IUCN: Dore et al. 2012) have also developed different tools to prevent and to negotiate in these conflicts.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    This text was first presented in Spanish by the author to a meeting on ‘Conflicts in megacities’ at the Chamber of Deputees in Mexico City in 2017 and later translated by the author into English and language edited by Dr. Vanessa Greatorex.

  2. 2.

    https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/conflict.

  3. 3.

    https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/megalopolis.

  4. 4.

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/10/10/how-chinas-shopping-malls-survive-and-thrive-in-the-e-commerce-age/#61eba4181d43.

  5. 5.

    https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/en/medicine/medical-informatics-platform/.

  6. 6.

    Speech of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, 22 March 2010, at the National Geographic building in Washington DC.

  7. 7.

    http://www.stormfax.com/lanina.htm.

  8. 8.

    For example, in Mexico mining companies extracted 250 tons of gold in only eleven years. This is 2.5 times more than the gold extracted during the 300 years of the Spanish colonial system.

References

  • Allan, John Anthony (2002a), “Water Security in the Middle East: The Hydro-Politics of Global Solutions”, in Water Research Group, London, SOAS/King’s College.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allan, John Anthony (2002b), Hydro-Peace in the Middle East: Why no Water Wars? A Case Study of the Jordan River Basin, SAIS Review, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Summer–Fall), https://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/sais_review/v022/22.2allan.html.

  • Allan, J. Anthony (1997). “Virtual Water: A long-term Solution for Water Short Middle Eastern Economies”, Paper for the British Association Festival of Science, University of Leeds, 9th of September.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arach, Omar (2018). “Like an Army in Enemy Territory’. Epistemic Violence in Megaextractivist Expansion” in Úrsula Oswald Spring, S. Eréndira Serrano Oswald (Eds.), Risks, Violence, Security and Peace in Latin America, Cham, Springer, pp. 101–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bronen, Robin (2011). “Forced Migration of Alaskan Indigenous Communities Due to Climate Change: Creating a Human Rights Response”, https://www.iom.int/jahia/webdav/site/myjahiasite/shared/shared/mainsite/events/docs/abstract.pdf.

  • Bronen, Robin (2015). “Climate-Induced Displacement of Alaska Native Communities”, https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/30-climate-alaska-bronen-paper.pdf.

  • Brown, Oli, Michael Keating (2015). Energy, Environment and Resources. Addressing Natural Resource Conflicts Working Towards More Effective Resolution of National and Sub-National Resource Disputes, London, Chatham House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burbano Muñoz, Nathaly, Malely Linares Sánchez, Fabiola Nava León (2018). “Socio-environmental Risks and Conflicts in Colombia and Mexico”, in Úrsula Oswald Spring, S. Eréndira Serrano Oswald (Eds.), Risks, Violence, Security and Peace in Latin America, Cham, Springer, pp. 113–127.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cadena Barquin, Félix (2003). “Aprender a emprender: La economía de solidaridad como alternativa a la globalización excluyente”, in Úrsula Oswald Spring (Ed.). Soberanía y desarrollo regional. El México que queremos, México D.F., UNAM, Coltax, Canacintra, pp. 285–300.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cadena Barquin, Félix (Ed.) (2009). De Foro a Foro. Contribuciones y perspectivas de la economía de solidaria en México en Contexto de crisis global, Mexico, D.F., FLASEP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cascão, A. E., M. Zeitoun (2010). “Power, hegemony and critical hydropolitics”, in A. Earle, A. Jägerskog, J. Ojendal (Eds.), Transboundary water management: Principles and practice, London, Earthscan, pp. 27–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Costa Ribeiro, Wagner (2012). Soberania: conceito e aplicação para a gestão da agua, Barcelona, Scripta Nova, Vol. 16, pp. 1–11, http://www.ub.edu/geocrit/sn/sn-418/sn-418-28.htm.

  • Costa Ribeiro, Wagner (Ed.) (2015). WATERLAT-GOBACIT Network Working Papers Thematic Area Series SATRANS – TA4 – Transboundary Waters Vol. 2 No. 3

    Google Scholar 

  • Costa Ribeiro, Wagner, Fernanda Mello Sant’Anna (2012). “Governança da ordem ambiental internacional”, in Wagner Costa Ribeiro (Ed.). Governança da ordem ambiental internacional e inclusão social, São Paulo, Annablume.

    Google Scholar 

  • Detges, Adrien, Benjamin Pohl, Stella Schaller (2017). 10 Violent Water Conflicts, Berlin, Adelphi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dore, J., Robinson, J. and Smith, M. (Eds) (2010). Negotiate – Reaching agreements over water, Gland, IUCN.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eliasson, Jan (2015). “Deputy UN chief calls for ‘hydro-diplomacy’ as world faces growing water shortages, https://news.un.org/en/story/2015/03/494732-deputy-un-chief-calls-hydro-diplomacy-world-faces-growing-water-shortages.

  • Empinotti, V., L. De Stefano, P. Jacobi, Ú. Oswald-Spring, P. Arrojo-Agudo, M. Solanes, G. Donoso, P. Phumpiu-Chang, P. (2014). “The role of stakeholders in water management”, in B.A. Willaarts, A. Garrido, M.R. Llamas (Eds.), Water for Food and Wellbeing in Latin America and the Caribbean. Social and Environmental Implications for a Globalized Economy, Oxon and New York, Routledge, pp. 317–342.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finger, M., J. Allouche (2002). Water Privatisation: Transnational Corporations and the Re-regulation of the Water Industry, London/New York, Spon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, Franklin M., Shaul Arlosoroff, Zvi Eckstein, Munther Haddadin, Salem G. Hamati, Annette Huber-Lee, Ammar Jarrar, Anan Jayyousi, Uri Shamir, Hans Wesseling (2002). “Optimal water management and conflict resolution: The Middle East Water Project”, Water Resources Research, Vol. 38, No. 11, pp. 1243–1260.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galtung, Johan (1967). “Peace research: science or politics in disguise”, International spectator 21(19): 1573–1603.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garatuza, Jaime, Julio César Rodríguez, Christopher Watts (2011). Environmental Monitoring and Crop Water demand, in Úrsula Oswald Spring (Ed.), Water Resources in Mexico. Scarcity, degradation, Stress, Conflicts, Management and Policy, Cuernavaca, CRIM-UNAM, Conacyt, pp. 101–110.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gleick, Peter (2004). Water conflict chronology, Pacific Institute for Studies in Development Environment, and Security, http://worldwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/ww8-red-water-conflict-chronology-2014.pdf.

  • Hartmann, Jens, Jason K. Levy, Norio Okada (2006). “Managing Surface Water Contamination in Nagoya, Japan: An Integrated Water Basin Management Decision Framework”, Water Resources Management, Vol. 20, No. 3, pp. 411–430.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homer-Dixon, Thomas (2000). The Ingenuity Gap, New York, Alfred A. Knopf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homer-Dixon, Thomas (1999). Environment, Scarcity and Violence, Princeton, Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hopple, Gerald W., Stephen J. Andriole, Amos Freddy (Eds.) (1984). National Security Crisis Forecasting and Management, Boulder, Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • INEGI (2010). XIII Censo General de Población y Vivienda, 2010, Aguascalientes, INEGI.

    Google Scholar 

  • INEGI (2000). XII Censo General de Población y Vivienda, 2010, Aguascalientes, INEGI.

    Google Scholar 

  • INEGI (1990). XI Censo General de Población y Vivienda, 2010, Aguascalientes, INEGI.

    Google Scholar 

  • IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] (2014). Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Working Group II Contribution to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] (2012). Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaspers, Frank G.W. (2003). “Institutional arrangements for integrated river basin management”, Water Policy, No. 5, pp. 77–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kriesberg, Louis (1996). “Coordinating Intermediary Peace Efforts”, Negotiation Journal, Vol. 12, No. 4, pp. 341–352.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lopezllera Méndez, Luis (2003). “La economía social y solidaria como factor de desarrollo equitativo e incluyente”, in Úrsula Oswald Spring (Ed.). Soberanía y desarrollo regional. El México que queremos, Mexico, D.F., UNAM, Coltax, Canacintra, pp. 359–376.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martínez Ruiz, José Luis, Daniel Murillo Licea, Luisa Paré (Eds.) (2017). Conflictos por el Agua y Alternativas en los Territorios Indígenas de México, Juitepec, Instituto Mexicano del Agua.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mead, Walter R., Amy Kaplan (2003). “The Anarchy of Empire in the Making of U.S. Culture”, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 82, No. 2, pp. 143–152.

    Google Scholar 

  • OAS (2005). “Guarani Aquifer system”, http://www.oas.org/en/sedi/dsd/iwrm/Past_Projects/Documents/Guarani_Aquifer_Brochure.pdf.

  • OECD (2017). Water Risks Hotspots for Agriculture, Paris, OECD Studies on Water.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oliver-Smith, Anthony (2001). Displacement, Resistance and the Critique of Development: From the Grass Roots to the Global, Oxford, University of Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oliver-Smith, Anthony (2015). “Resettlement Principles”, Paris, UNFCCC, https://unfccc.int/files/adaptation/groups_committees/loss_and_damage_executive_committee/application/pdf/resettlement_principles-2.pdf.

  • Oswald Spring, Úrsula (1986). Sistema alimentario y sociedad: el caso mexicano (SAS), Mexico, D.F., UAM-X, Programa Interdisciplinario de la Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Unidad Xochimilco, División de Ciencias Biológicas y de la Salud, División de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, División de Ciencias y Artes para el Diseño.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oswald Spring, Úrsula (2001). “Sustainable Development with Peace Building and Human Security”, in M. Tolba (Ed.). Our Fragile World. Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Development, Forerunnner to the Encyclopedia of Life Support System, Oxford, Oxford-Eolss Publisher, Vol. 1: 873–916.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oswald Spring, Úrsula (2005). El valor del agua. Una visión socioeconómica de un conflicto ambiental, Tlaxcala, El Colegio de Tlaxcala, CONACYT-FOMIX, SEFOA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oswald Spring, Úrsula (2006). “Water Security and Desertification. Globalization, Hydro-Diplomacy, Cooperation and Peace”, Seminar NATO Advanced Study Institute, Arrava Institute for Environmental Studies, Israel, 6–17 of February.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oswald Spring, Úrsula (2007). “Hydro-Diplomacy: Opportunities for Learning from an Interregional Process”, in Clive Lipchin, Eric Pallant, Denielle Saranga, Allyson Amster (Eds.). Integrated Water Resources Management and Security in the Middle East, Springer Science and NATO, Dordrecht, pp. 163–200.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oswald Spring, Úrsula (2011). Water Resources in Mexico. Scarcity, Degradation, Stress, Conflicts, Management, and Policy, Berlin-Heidelberg, Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oswald Spring, Úrsula (2014). “Water security and national water law in Mexico”, Earth Perspectives, Vol. 1, No. 7, pp. 1–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oswald Spring, Úrsula, S. Eréndira Serrano Oswald, Adriana Estrada Álvarez, Fátima Flores Palacios, Maribel Ríos Everardo, Hans Günter Brauch, Teresita Ruiz Pantoja, Carlos Lemus Ramírez, Ariana Estrada Villanueva, M. Mónica Cruz Rivera (2014). Vulnerabilidad Social y Género entre Migrantes Ambientales, Cuernavaca, CRIM-DGAPA-UNAM.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petersen-Perlmana, Jacob D., Jennifer C. Veilleux, Aaron T. Wolf (2017). “International water conflict and cooperation: challenges and opportunities”, Water International, Vol. 42, No. 2: 105–120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pohl Benjamin (2014). The Rise of Hydro-Diplomacy. Strengthening foreign policy for transboundary waters, Berlin, adelphi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rebagliati, E.B. (2004). Avanzando la Agenda del Agua: aspectos a considerar en América Latina, in Series sobre Elementos de Políticas, Vol. 2, Washington, OAS/Unidad de Desarrollo Sostenible y Medio Ambiente.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richey, Alexandra S., Brian F. Thomas, Min-Hui Lo, James S. Famiglietti, Sean Swenson, Matthew Rodell (2015). “Uncertainty in global groundwater storage estimates in a Total Groundwater Stress framework”, Water Resources Research, Vol. 51, pp. 5198–5216.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez-Munguía, Vicente (2011). “The US–Mexico Border: Conflict and Co-operation in Water Management”, International Journal of Water Resources Development, Vol. 27, No. 3: 577–593.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheffran, Jürgen, Michael Brzoska, Hans Günter Brauch, Peter M. Link, Janpeter Schilling (Eds.) (2012). Climate Change, Human Security and Violent Conflict. Challenges for Societal Stability, Berlin-Heidelberg, Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNEP (2009). Protecting the Environment during Armed Conflict. An Inventory and Analysis of International Law, Nairobi, UNEP.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO (2016). Pilot Course PCCP-LAC (Prevención de Conflictos y Cooperación en el Manejo del Agua en América Latina), Guayaquil, UNESCO-Escuela Politécnica de Litoral.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO-IHP (2001). Programme ‘From Potential Conflict to Cooperation Potential (PCCP)’, Paris, UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO-WWAP [UNESCO-World Water Assessment Programme] (2012). Managing Water under Uncertainty and Risk, Paris, UNESCO-WWAP.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNFCCC (1998). Kyoto Protocol https://unfccc.int/process/the-kyoto-protocol.

  • United States National Intelligence Council (2012). Global Water Security, https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/Special%20Report_ICA%20Global%20Water%20Security.pdf

  • UN-WWAP [United Nations World Water Assessment Programme] (2009). Updating the International Water Events Database http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001818/181890E.pdf.

  • Westing, Arthur H. (2013a). Arthur H. Westing: A Pioneer on the Environmental Impact of War, Berlin, Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Westing, Arthur H. (2013b). Texts on Environmental and Comprehensive Security, Cham, Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank (2012). Reaching Across the Waters: Facing the Risks of Cooperation in International Waters, Water papers. http://water.worldbank.org/sites/water.worldbank.org/files/publication/WaterWB-Reaching-Across-Waters.pdf.

  • WWC [World Water Council] (2010). Hydro-Diplomacy in Motion. World Water Council 2010–2012, Marseille, World Water Council.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yépez-García, Rigoberto Ariel, Todd M. Johnson, Luis Alberto Andrés (2011). Meeting the Balance of Electricity Supply and Demand in Latin America and the Caribbean, Washington, World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yoffe, Shira, Aaron Wolf, Mark Giordano (2003). “Conflict and Cooperation over International Freshwater Resources: Indicators of Basins at Risk” in: Journal of the American Water Resources Association, Vol. 39, No. 5, págs. 1109–1126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yoffe, Shira, Kelli Larson (2001). Basins at Risk: Conflict and Cooperation over International Freshwater Resources, Doctor of Philosophy dissertation, Orgegon, Oregon State University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zeitoun, Mark, Jeroen Warner (2006). “Hydro-hegemony – a framework for analysis of trans-boundary water conflicts”, Water Policy, Vol. 8, pp. 435–460, London, IWA Publishing, http://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/2775653.pdf.

  • Zeitoun, Mark, Naho Mirumachi, Jeroen Warner (2011). “Transboundary water interaction II: the influence of ‘soft’ power”, International Environmental Agreements-Politics Law and Economics, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 159–178.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Regional Centre of Multidisciplinary Studies, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

    Úrsula Oswald Spring

Authors
  1. Úrsula Oswald Spring
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Úrsula Oswald Spring .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Oswald Spring, Ú. (2020). Water Conflicts, Megalopolises and Hydrodiplomacy. In: Earth at Risk in the 21st Century: Rethinking Peace, Environment, Gender, and Human, Water, Health, Food, Energy Security, and Migration . Pioneers in Arts, Humanities, Science, Engineering, Practice, vol 18. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38569-9_7

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38569-9_7

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-38568-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-38569-9

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation