Freshwater
is a requirement of life. However, it's becoming scarce by the day due to
increasing human population and their reckless water use. According to the UN
World Water Report, currently, more than two billion people—about 29 percent of
world population—lack access to safe drinking water.
Reliable water systems are necessary for agriculture, manufacturing, electricity, and thermal power generation. However, our current technology is not smart enough to produce significant amounts of freshwater. The scarcity has become a powerful issue of national and international politics and even a political weapon. Nepal has big water resources but there are dangers ahead.
Reliable water systems are necessary for agriculture, manufacturing, electricity, and thermal power generation. However, our current technology is not smart enough to produce significant amounts of freshwater. The scarcity has become a powerful issue of national and international politics and even a political weapon. Nepal has big water resources but there are dangers ahead.
Many countries are getting thirstier, including highest per
capita income countries like Qatar, Israel, and Saudi Arabia. Many of them
import freshwater from water-rich countries. For example, Qatar is currently
importing freshwater from Chile and Saudi Arabia from Nordic countries. The
World Resource Institute has listed 36 countries that face extreme water stress
among which majority are Gulf countries. Regional tensions are only likely to
exacerbate water issues. According to UNESCO, by 2030, 47 percent of world
population will be living in areas of high water stress.
'Water trading' has become a buzzword. It means the volume of water consumed by agriculture or industry exported to other country. By consuming water in one country to produce a product traded to another country, the water is virtually transferred to importing country. Australia is one of the developed countries engaged in water trade. The interstate water trade by the Australian state of Victoria was around two Gigaliters in 2013.
Thus water has become a commodity directly related to food production and human hunger. According to the World Food Program, currently 805 million people don't have enough food to lead a healthy life and are undernourished. A quarter of this undernourished world population lives in India and most of them are in states adjoining Nepal.
Two-third of earth is water but most of it is salty sea water, useless for drinking, agriculture or industries. Only about 2.5 percent of it is fresh water which is deposited as snow, glaciers, rivers and ponds. Nepal is a water-rich country. Despite being landlocked, Nepal is rich in freshwater resources with about 6,000 rivers, 3,252 glaciers and 2,323 glacial lakes. According to ICIMOD, the surface water available in Nepal is about 225 BCM/yr (billion cubic kilometers per year) whereas only about 1,000 BCM/yr exists on earth.
Just as wars over oil played a major role in shaping 20th century politics, water is rapidly becoming the world's critical resource. The New York Times journalist Steven Solomon in his book Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power and Civilization, shows how water will be the root cause of dispute among countries in the coming days, provoking inter-continental conflicts. The Pacific Institute of California has prepared a Water Conflict Chronology, with database of last 5,000 years of violence over water. This chronology shows how in history control over water resources was used as military and political tool and how non-state actors have used it for terrorism.
Nepal is vulnerable, geopolitically, and in the absence of laws for protection of our water resources. India has already made it known its rights over the river water that runs to its territory. It has made high dams along east to west border to control flood water. Disputes over Pancheshwar electricity-irrigation project and demise of Arun-III project in 1995 are strong indicators of such growing anxiety.
If we fail in legal protection of our water it will certainly provoke regional or international conflict. Water in India is becoming desirable for its thirsty population and for its industrial growth. How desperate India is for energy is illustrated by the 3,000 tonnes of uranium deal recently made by PM Narendra Modi with Canada. Our inability to protect our interests, in this context, will be dangerous. Not only should we think about water agreements with our neighbors but also about its equitable distribution in our federal setup.
There have already been disruptions in Upper Tamakoshi and Khanikhola hydroelectricity projects, which was due to the absence of our water management mechanisms.
Water security is similar to intellectual property right. In this regard, there are two categories of water laws in international arena: 'Prior-appropriation water rights' and 'Riparian water rights'. Prior appropriation dictates that the first party to use water for beneficial purposes maintains right to continue using it in this manner, unless they elect to sell or lease these rights. Riparian water rights are given to parties in ownership of land adjacent to a body of water. It is advisable that Nepal develop its own water protection laws. We should think about how our water resources can be used for social and fiscal equity for all future federal states and how we can build a price mechanism to trade water across national borders.
'Water trading' has become a buzzword. It means the volume of water consumed by agriculture or industry exported to other country. By consuming water in one country to produce a product traded to another country, the water is virtually transferred to importing country. Australia is one of the developed countries engaged in water trade. The interstate water trade by the Australian state of Victoria was around two Gigaliters in 2013.
Thus water has become a commodity directly related to food production and human hunger. According to the World Food Program, currently 805 million people don't have enough food to lead a healthy life and are undernourished. A quarter of this undernourished world population lives in India and most of them are in states adjoining Nepal.
Two-third of earth is water but most of it is salty sea water, useless for drinking, agriculture or industries. Only about 2.5 percent of it is fresh water which is deposited as snow, glaciers, rivers and ponds. Nepal is a water-rich country. Despite being landlocked, Nepal is rich in freshwater resources with about 6,000 rivers, 3,252 glaciers and 2,323 glacial lakes. According to ICIMOD, the surface water available in Nepal is about 225 BCM/yr (billion cubic kilometers per year) whereas only about 1,000 BCM/yr exists on earth.
Just as wars over oil played a major role in shaping 20th century politics, water is rapidly becoming the world's critical resource. The New York Times journalist Steven Solomon in his book Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power and Civilization, shows how water will be the root cause of dispute among countries in the coming days, provoking inter-continental conflicts. The Pacific Institute of California has prepared a Water Conflict Chronology, with database of last 5,000 years of violence over water. This chronology shows how in history control over water resources was used as military and political tool and how non-state actors have used it for terrorism.
Nepal is vulnerable, geopolitically, and in the absence of laws for protection of our water resources. India has already made it known its rights over the river water that runs to its territory. It has made high dams along east to west border to control flood water. Disputes over Pancheshwar electricity-irrigation project and demise of Arun-III project in 1995 are strong indicators of such growing anxiety.
If we fail in legal protection of our water it will certainly provoke regional or international conflict. Water in India is becoming desirable for its thirsty population and for its industrial growth. How desperate India is for energy is illustrated by the 3,000 tonnes of uranium deal recently made by PM Narendra Modi with Canada. Our inability to protect our interests, in this context, will be dangerous. Not only should we think about water agreements with our neighbors but also about its equitable distribution in our federal setup.
There have already been disruptions in Upper Tamakoshi and Khanikhola hydroelectricity projects, which was due to the absence of our water management mechanisms.
Water security is similar to intellectual property right. In this regard, there are two categories of water laws in international arena: 'Prior-appropriation water rights' and 'Riparian water rights'. Prior appropriation dictates that the first party to use water for beneficial purposes maintains right to continue using it in this manner, unless they elect to sell or lease these rights. Riparian water rights are given to parties in ownership of land adjacent to a body of water. It is advisable that Nepal develop its own water protection laws. We should think about how our water resources can be used for social and fiscal equity for all future federal states and how we can build a price mechanism to trade water across national borders.
