Conclusion: Swimming against the Tide

Abstract

The authors of this book have striven to present an objective account of international rivalry over river resources in Himalayan Asia. The intensity of conflict has been neither overstated nor understated. Pains have been taken to examine in detail the main drivers of conflict under the labels of irrigation, energy, and diversion imperatives. Additionally, attention has been given to the puzzlingly complex impact on the region’s water resources of climate change; and, by taking a look at three comparable Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) cases, we were able to extract some useful lessons in the art and science of cooperative water (mis)management applicable to Himalayan Asia. We also examined, finally, the potential contribution to the region’s future water security of innovative water technologies. We arrive at the end point in the discussion far from optimistic about the region’s hydro-political future. Among other reasons for our relatively pessimistic inclinations, this region suffers some of the world’s most acute water-scarcity conditions, houses a number of long-standing and seemingly intractable interstate enmities, and, on top of those formidable problems, boasts the most massive and unavoidably conflict-arousing plans for exploiting the region’s water resources to be found anywhere on the planet. We are more convinced than ever, however, that what the Himalayan Asian region needs most to ensure environmental sustainability along with the water security of the billions of people who do now or will in future live there is an uncompromising political commitment to cooperative management of the region’s river basins.