Blog 1: Introductory Blog
Welcome to my blog!!
This site will endeavour to explain and analyse, in a short, sweet and succinct manner, the nature of hydropolitical conflict and how said conflict comes about across Africa, with a particular focus on eastern and southern Africa. In its simplest sense, the term "water conflict" describes any disagreement or dispute over or about water, where external social, economic, legal, political or military intervention is needed to resolve the problem (Ashton, 2007). My site is also not restricted to purely African hydropolitics, other areas in Africa and even across the globe will be used as comparative examples, as hydropolitics is such a wide spread and prolific phenomenon.
I first became fascinated with water conflicts when I was 15, learning about a squatter settlement near Nairobi, Kenya, called Kibera which has a complex network of water supply systems (Wesangula, 2016). This case study really emphasised to me the fact that water could be used as a political weapon, in order to jeopardise and therefore control the lives of so many due to their innate dependence on the resource. The scarcity of water is at the root of hydropolitical conflict, water scarcity being 'a shortage in the availability of renewable freshwater relative to demand' (Taylor 2009). If water wasn't finite, there would be no need for it to be allocated to and controlled by political institutions, whether these be national, regional or local as seen in Figure 1 below. It is often the power struggle between these scalar institutions and groups which can result in said conflict (Mutembwa, 1998).
This scalar power struggle to control water resources can be separated into three broad categories; national, regional and local.
National is all encompassing of international and transnational water disputes, one of the most common causes of conflict. This is innately a geographical issue due to the nature of the physical landscape in Africa causing sources of freshwater to be transnational, making the root of conflict in this case due to riparian water rights. Riparian rights concerning the Nile river have been causing conflicts for decades, as the water source is controlled at either end by Ethiopia and Egypt whilst also flowing through eight other countries in north west Africa, but is unevenly distributed in favour of Egypt (Swain, 1997).
Regional conflicts can arise when there is political discord within a country, whether this be due to different parties holding power in different parts of the country, or governing bodies taking ownership of indigenous land. For example in Harare, Zimbabwe there have been severe water shortages for several years due to mismanagement and corruption at government and municipal levels. For example, city budget guidelines specify that most of the revenue from water must be ploughed back into the system for maintenance and improvement, but even government officials acknowledged that the money is diverted for other uses (HRW). This has lead to water supplies becoming contaminated and undrinkable, due to the lack of funding which has instead been used for political gain.
Local water conflicts can be likened to the aforementioned case study of Kibera, where the discrepancy in cost, supply and accessibility to water are incredibly varied. Much of the squatter settlement doesnt have access to piped water and therefore have to buy water from water vendors, who, with inelastic demand can charge exorbitant rates which are often more expensive than piped water. Conflict often arises with residents becoming hostile towards the state due to the added cost of their water, as a result of the the lack of accessibility to piped water provided by the local government. Conflict can also arise when the the piped water is turned off, this is a regular occurrence with it only being on for on average 3 days out of 7, leaving many households in the lurch and having to pay two water bills in one week (Wesangula, 2016).
This was a brief taste of the concepts and conflicts I'll be tackling in future blogs. These will go into more depth into specific case studies or specific conflicts, explaining the context of said conflict and analysing them in a political manner, in order to really get to the root of hydropolitical conflicts in Africa, both in the past and the present. I look forward to sharing my thoughts with you about these topics in the upcoming weeks!
This site will endeavour to explain and analyse, in a short, sweet and succinct manner, the nature of hydropolitical conflict and how said conflict comes about across Africa, with a particular focus on eastern and southern Africa. In its simplest sense, the term "water conflict" describes any disagreement or dispute over or about water, where external social, economic, legal, political or military intervention is needed to resolve the problem (Ashton, 2007). My site is also not restricted to purely African hydropolitics, other areas in Africa and even across the globe will be used as comparative examples, as hydropolitics is such a wide spread and prolific phenomenon.
I first became fascinated with water conflicts when I was 15, learning about a squatter settlement near Nairobi, Kenya, called Kibera which has a complex network of water supply systems (Wesangula, 2016). This case study really emphasised to me the fact that water could be used as a political weapon, in order to jeopardise and therefore control the lives of so many due to their innate dependence on the resource. The scarcity of water is at the root of hydropolitical conflict, water scarcity being 'a shortage in the availability of renewable freshwater relative to demand' (Taylor 2009). If water wasn't finite, there would be no need for it to be allocated to and controlled by political institutions, whether these be national, regional or local as seen in Figure 1 below. It is often the power struggle between these scalar institutions and groups which can result in said conflict (Mutembwa, 1998).
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A depiction of the complex relations surrounding water (Le Hu, 2001)
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National is all encompassing of international and transnational water disputes, one of the most common causes of conflict. This is innately a geographical issue due to the nature of the physical landscape in Africa causing sources of freshwater to be transnational, making the root of conflict in this case due to riparian water rights. Riparian rights concerning the Nile river have been causing conflicts for decades, as the water source is controlled at either end by Ethiopia and Egypt whilst also flowing through eight other countries in north west Africa, but is unevenly distributed in favour of Egypt (Swain, 1997).
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| Map showing transboundary water source in Africa (CGIAR) |
Regional conflicts can arise when there is political discord within a country, whether this be due to different parties holding power in different parts of the country, or governing bodies taking ownership of indigenous land. For example in Harare, Zimbabwe there have been severe water shortages for several years due to mismanagement and corruption at government and municipal levels. For example, city budget guidelines specify that most of the revenue from water must be ploughed back into the system for maintenance and improvement, but even government officials acknowledged that the money is diverted for other uses (HRW). This has lead to water supplies becoming contaminated and undrinkable, due to the lack of funding which has instead been used for political gain.
 |
| Map of the Blue and White Niles and the countries they pass (Carlson, 2013) |
This was a brief taste of the concepts and conflicts I'll be tackling in future blogs. These will go into more depth into specific case studies or specific conflicts, explaining the context of said conflict and analysing them in a political manner, in order to really get to the root of hydropolitical conflicts in Africa, both in the past and the present. I look forward to sharing my thoughts with you about these topics in the upcoming weeks!
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