Water and conflict

Ages 13 to 17 Read alone · about 40 minutes

Read together

Fresh water is unevenly shared. About two billion people live where water is scarce at least part of the year.

Rivers cross borders, so countries must agree how to share them. Many have, and some disputes remain.

Do it

1. Choose a shared river, such as the Nile, Mekong or Colorado. Find the countries it crosses.
2. List who uses the water: farms, cities, industry, nature.
3. Read a short account of an agreement about sharing it.
4. Write a short proposal for fair sharing, and name one trade-off.

Talk about it

• Who has the right to the water?
• What do fairness and peace require?

For the grown-up

Scholars note that water shortages have more often led to cooperation than to war between states, though they can fuel local conflict. Access to safe water is recognised by the United Nations as a human right. Jesus spoke of giving a cup of water (Matthew 10:42); that is a labelled summary to check.

Mark as done

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Where this comes from

• United Nations, General Assembly resolution 64/292 (2010), the human right to water and sanitation
• UN-Water, Summary Progress Update and World Water Development Report, data on water scarcity
• Wolf, A. T., “Shared Waters: Conflict and Cooperation”, Annual Review of Environment and Resources 32 (2007): 241 to 269

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed. Please read it before sharing it with a child.