Role of Water Resources in the Modern World
The problems of water use and water availability have a long history. For thousands of years, the people had used water in agriculture and for satisfying their own needs, while in the recent centuries the water supply of industry has been added here. Howe
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Contents 1 Introduction 2 Water Deficit 3 Demographic Dimension 4 Struggle for Water 5 Regional Water Geopolitics 6 Near East Water Dominoes 7 Virtual Water 8 Growing Rivalry 9 Water Security 10 Conclusions References
S. S. Zhiltsov (*) The Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University), Moscow, Russia S.Yu. Witte Moscow University, Moscow, Russia e-mail: [email protected] I. S. Zonn Engineering Research Production Center for Water Management, Land Reclamation and Ecology “Soyuzvodproject”, Moscow, Russia S.Yu. Witte Moscow University, Moscow, Russia e-mail: [email protected] A. V. Semenov S.Yu. Witte Moscow University, Moscow, Russia e-mail: [email protected] O. E. Grishin and E. A. Markova Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University), Moscow, Russia e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] Igor S. Zonn, Sergey S. Zhiltsov, Andrey G. Kostianoy, and Aleksandr V. Semenov (eds.), Water Resources Management in Central Asia, Hdb Env Chem, DOI 10.1007/698_2020_598, © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
S. S. Zhiltsov et al.
Abstract The problems of water use and water availability have a long history. For thousands of years, the people had used water in agriculture and for satisfying their own needs, while in the recent centuries the water supply of industry has been added here. However, beginning from the mid-twentieth century, the use, distribution, and reproduction of water resources have acquired special relevance. The quickly growing world population, industry development, and expanding agricultural lands have led to the water deficit which is increasing with every passing year. The water demand runs ahead of the population growth rate. Many international organizations and individual states exerted enormous efforts to find the way to cope with this issue but so far without success. In the recent decades this has led to the growth of interstate contradictions of interests which gave rise to international instability and even to conflicts. This issue is so acute that the conflicting parties fail to find compromise. It means that in the nearest decades, we may witness the revival of “water wars” which will affect enormously the political map of the world. Keywords Conflicts, Ecology, Struggle for water, Water resources, World politics
1 Introduction For many centuries the water resources determined the places where people choose to live. The water resources and the geography of their distribution over the planet and their volumes available to a man have also governed the industrial and agricultural development. However, in the recent century, the role of water availability in the life of individual states and in interstate relations has been growing. The increase of water use has enhanced competition for this strategic resource. This factor has become crucial for international relations in different world regions, in particular those with transboundary rivers. They turned from purely geographical ob
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