Global Issues
News headlines for “Arms Control”, page 640
Q&A: Water Disputes Get Resolved While Other Conflicts Rage
- Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 13 (IPS) - What has education, science and culture to do with one of the world's most scarce and finite resources?
Plenty, says the United Nations, which has designated the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as the lead agency to promote the 2013 International Year of Water Cooperation (IYWC).
Asked if water is more an area for potential conflicts or an area for mutual cooperation, UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova told IPS, "Water acts as a unifier."
She said the historical record shows that water disputes do get resolved, even among bitter enemies, and even as conflicts drag out over other issues.
"Some of the most vociferous enemies around the world have negotiated water agreements or are in the process of doing so," said Bokova, a former foreign minister of Bulgaria, who studied at the University of Maryland and at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
In an interview with IPS, she said "it is often said that water can be a source of conflict.
"But at UNESCO, we are guided by the opposite idea - we want to see water as a tremendous resource for cooperation, for exchange and joint work between States and societies," said Bokova, the first woman to head UNESCO, and who is expected to run for a second four-year term, come October.
According to the United Nations, the IYWC will highlight "the history of successful water cooperation initiatives, as well as identify burning issues on water education, water diplomacy, trans-boundary water management, financing cooperation, national/international legal frameworks, and the linkages with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)."
Bokova said, "We need a new vision that marries social equity, environmental protection and sustainable economic development as part of a single agenda for a more sustainable world."
She said UNESCO strongly believes that water must lie at the heart of this vision, and water diplomacy is an essential tool of 'soft power' for a more peaceful world.
Excerpts from the interview follow.
Q: What are the specific areas of cooperation between, and among, countries now?
A: The Mekong Committee has functioned since 1957, exchanging data throughout the Vietnam War. Secret "picnic table" talks have been held between Israel and Jordan since the unsuccessful Johnston negotiations of 1953 to 1955, even as these riparians until only recently were in a legal state of war.
The Indus River Commission survived through two wars between India and Pakistan. And all ten Nile riparians are currently involved in negotiations over cooperative development of the basin.
There are numerous examples where trans-boundary waters have proved to be a source of cooperation rather than conflict. Nearly 450 agreements on international waters were signed between 1820 and 2007. And over 90 international water agreements were drawn up to help manage shared water basins on the African continent.
Q: Are the U.N.'s efforts at "water cooperation" feasible against the backdrop of water-sharing conflicts between India-Pakistan? Israel-Jordan? Palestine-Israel?
A: The role of the United Nations is to offer a platform for dialogue and communication through the tools that are available to the system. Each agency facilitates cooperation from a specific angle of intervention.
UNESCO, for example, uses education and science as a means to intervene in a situation where cooperation needs to be established or enhanced. Two unique programmes provide the organisation's member states with the scientific backbone needed for any water management issue at any level - from the local to the national, regional and international levels.
Firstly, the International Hydrological Programme (IHP) is the only intergovernmental scientific cooperative programme that aims at helping member states manage their water resources and address the needs of their peoples through science and education.
And, secondly, he World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) which provides invaluable data and regular assessments of the planet's water resources, without which decision makers cannot move forward with their decisions making processes.
Q: Any concrete examples?
A: Example 1: UNESCO's Potential Conflict to Cooperation Potential (PCCP) programme, which is an associated programme of both IHP and WWAP, facilitates multi-level and interdisciplinary dialogue to foster peace, cooperation and development by building capacity to manage trans-boundary water resources.
For example, research on Lake Titicaca involved stakeholders from both Bolivia and Peru. A joint document was prepared outlining the status of conflict and cooperation in this trans-boundary water body.
In 1992, Bolivia and Peru created the Bi-national Autonomous Authority of Lake Titicaca recognising the importance of the joint management of the lake.
War Over, Now to Secure Peace
- Inter Press Service
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso, Mar 13 (IPS) - As the Malian army and its foreign partners are slowly securing northern cities in the West African nation, it is still unclear how the country will turn its back on the political crisis that led to the March 2012 military coup.
At Home, and Not at Home
- Inter Press Service
WADI KHALED, Northern Lebanon, Mar 12 (IPS) - The influx of hundreds of thousands of war-weary refugees from Syria to Lebanon is putting an almost unbearable strain on many of the communities that have taken them into their homes. A domestic economic crisis compounded by the arrival of such large numbers of refugees is weighing heavily on many impoverished areas.
Child Sexual Exploitation on the Rise in North Kivu
- Inter Press Service
GOMA, DR Congo, Mar 12 (IPS) - A street in Goma's city centre, the capital of North Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, has been nicknamed "the ward of death" because of the brutal crimes that frequently occur there.
U.S. “Rebalancing” to Asia/Pacific Still a Priority
- Inter Press Service
WASHINGTON, Mar 12 (IPS) - Amidst growing tensions with North Korea and, to a lesser extent, China, the White House Monday insisted that its "re-balancing" toward the Asia/Pacific remained on track and that Washington is fully committed to its allies there, especially Japan and South Korea.
A Political Tug-of-War Over Militarism and Gender Violence
- Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 11 (IPS) - When the largest single gathering of women met at the United Nations in February last year, the adoption of a future plan of action was undermined by rigidly conservative governments opposed to women's reproductive rights - largely misinterpreted as a right to abortion.
SOF Troops Still in Wardak as Joint U.S.-Afghan Probe Continues
- Inter Press Service
WASHINGTON/KABUL, Mar 10 (IPS) - Two weeks after Afghan President Hamid Karzai demanded the withdrawal of all U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) from Wardak province by this date, the issue remains suspended in negotiations between U.S. and Afghan governments.
U.N. Security Council Hits N. Korea with New Sanctions
- Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS/WASHINGTON, Mar 08 (IPS) - North Korea, which has survived three rounds of diplomatic and economic sanctions since its first nuclear test in 2006, reacted with predictable fury, threatening to nuke the United States, in retaliation for a Security Council resolution imposing new sanctions against Pyongyang.
Victims Want Voice and Vote in Colombia’s Peace Talks
- Inter Press Service
BOGOTA, Mar 07 (IPS) - Victims of crimes of the state want their recommendations to be taken into consideration by the peace talks between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrillas that are seeking to end half a century of armed conflict.
Gaza Women Suffer on ‘Their’ Day
- Inter Press Service
GAZA CITY, Mar 07 (IPS) - "In Gaza we don't lead normal lives, we just cope and adapt to our abnormal lives under siege and occupation," says Dr. Mona El-Farra, a physician and a long-time human rights and women's rights activist in the Gaza Strip. On International Women's Day, when many of the world's women are fighting for workplace equality and an end to domestic violence, Farra and the majority of Gaza's women fight for the most basic of human rights.
Powered by
