It is interesting to see just how the emphasis on the environment has changed in such a short time.  Global warming and all the other issue with Carbon Footprints are interesting.  But there is an issue that is as old as time.  Control of water.  This is going to be one of the biggest reasons for war in the coming century.

In an interesting article by the BBC entitled water wars it picks up on the Middle Eastern conflict between Israel and the nations in the region and focuses on the issue of water.

Middle Eastern rhetoric often portrays the issue of water as an existential, zero-sum conflict - casting either Israel as a malevolent sponge sucking up Arab water resources, or the implacably hostile Arabs as threatening Israel’s very existence by denying life-giving water.

Former UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali may not have been right when he said in the 1990s that the next war in the Middle East would be about water not politics, but a future war over water is not out of the question.

While demand for water already outstrips supply, requirements are rising and current supply is unsustainable. This is not an uncommon situation and one which needs to be addressed. 

Hydrologists say joint solutions need to be found, because water requirements are interdependent and water resources cross political boundaries.

That necessitates improved conservation and recycling by both sides. Improving the political atmosphere would allow supplies to be piped from neighbouring countries. Also crucial, experts say, are investment in desalination and other technical advances.

The article summarises the situation by stating the oblivious that:

Such solutions are desperately needed in the medium to long term. In other words, Israel and the Palestinians must work together, because they cannot survive as combatants.

Let’s hope that this is not a recurring theme with other nations in the years to come, but somehow I suspect that it will be.