Water Wars

Welcome back!

My first blog addresses how the politics of water can be materialised into 'water wars' through an analysis of the Lake Chad basin case study. 

To start, meet Gadaf Mahamat. He describes how his property was torched in a recent clash between local Arab herders and Mousgoum farmers. In turn, he lost everything. The cause? water scarcity in Northern Cameroon. Tensions arose over disagreements regarding use of a local reservoir. Similar conflicts result in millions of victims associated with the shrinking of the Lake Chad basin.  

Figure 1: A soldier stood by Lake Chad (Photo: Arno Trumper/ adelphi)


Lake Chad is situated between Chad, Nigeria, Niger, and Cameroon (figure 2). Chronic droughts in the mid 20th century have caused the lake to shrink by 90% (Mohanty et al., 2021). Furthermore, climate change threatens to increase rainfall variability, worsening water and food insecurity. Lake Chad's depletion has therefore resulted in 2.3 million people being forced to migrate, with an additional 5 million people struggling with food insecurity (Usigbe, 2019).
 


Figure2: Map of Lake Chad (Nzouankeu 2021)

The Lake Chad basin countries are ranked within the 10 least peaceful countries in Africa (GTI, 2020). However, increased water scarcity and mass migration exacerbate tensions. Increased social unrest and the loss of economic livelihoods has allowed the terrorist group 'Boko Haram' to grow and ascertain regional control (Owonikoko, 2020). Additionally, as with Gadaf Mahamat, water depletion has led to increased tensions between farmers and pastoralists killing 4000 people in Nigeria between 2016-2019 (Mohanty et al., 2021). 

As 80-90% of Lake Chad's economic occupations are underpinned by water, increased water scarcity and competition for water deem conflict inevitable. 'Conflict of ownership' is mainly characterized by an inter-state upstream vs downstream dispute over rights to water resources (Onuoha, 2008). Additionally, they are often materialized through fishing rights. For example, allegations of dehumanizing treatment of Nigerian Fisherman by Cameroonian and Chadian officers resulted in outright conflict in 1983, where 9 Nigerians and 75 Chadians were killed. Similarly, a Nigerian fisherman, Sanusi, describes the seizing of his fishing equipment and being forced to pay extortionate fees for their return (Murray, 2007). 

In contrast, 'conflict of use' is seen on a more micro, intra-state scale. It involves disputes of how water use of one group can disrupt the water use of another. For example, the contraction of Lake Chad forces farmers to operate closer to the Lake's shoreline. However, this land is predominantly used for pastoral grazing leading to increased frequency of disputes (Onuoha, 2007). 

Clearly, water plays an central role in conflicts, however, is it the most important factor?

Galli and Rulli (2022) conducted an analysis to map the relationship between conflicts and regions of high/ low water availability. 



Figure3: Map of conflicts and water availability (Galli and Rulli (2022))

The results speak for themselves. Figure 3 illustrates how regions with the highest concentration of conflicts coincide with areas of lowest water availability. However, interestingly, conflicts also occur in areas of the highest water availability. 

But how can water wars be addressed? Solutions require a holistic approach. Longer term solutions need to address climate change which threatens to worsen existing water depletion (Vivekananda, 2018). Alternative policies have attempted to recharge the lake with water. In 2018, a project aimed to steer water from the Ubangi River in the DRC (Omotesho, 2022). However, given the 2400km seperating the Ubangi River and Lake Chad, economic restraints and  trans-national tensions prove limiting. More sustainable solutions should therefore entail improving resilience to increasing water variability. For example, the introduction of climate-smart crops such as tubers. 

I hope you enjoyed this post, stay tuned for more!



Comments

  1. Antoine PersonneJanuary 8, 2023 at 10:23 AM

    Very interesting case study! The differentiation between conflicts of use and ownership brings into the light the fact that conflict over water can take multiple forms.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Community Management: A Suitable Model?

Image
On reflection, my posts so far have been dominated by conflict. Although this was a purposeful direction, I realised this route may overlook more subtle political discussions regarding water in Africa. Therefore, to try produce a more expansive blog, this post addresses the community-based model of water management. Community management offers an empowering, decentralised form of water governance situating end users as active decision-makers ( Schouten and Moriarty, 2003 ). By transferring ownership to communities and bypassing ineffective states, community-management offers a more pragmatic form of water supply. However, research points to woeful operational failure rates of 30-60% within Sub-Saharan-Africa countries ( Baumann, 2006 ).  Figure 1: Village meeting for community water project ( Source: CED ) Community-management appealed to overstretched governments and NGOs where they could transfer responsibility of provision to users with a 'clear conscience' ( Harvey and Reed...
Read more

Sustainable management in the River Nile?

Image
Following last post, I was curious as to how trans-national water bodies have been managed. After viewing Planet Explore's fascinating video below, I felt the River Nile serves as an interesting case study.   Video - River Nile geopolitics ( Planet Explore ) The River Nile (figure 1) passes through 10 countries in Africa serving a population of approximately 400 million. Referred to as the 'cradle of civilization', the Nile supports the water supply of over half of the basin's population. Irrigation dominates aggregate withdrawal at 75%, and is particularly crucial for Lower Basin countries where rainwater is limited ( Swain, 2011 ).  Figure 1: The River Nile (Source: Hel-Hama ) Due to rising demands and uneven power relations, the Nile is susceptible to the 'water wars' outlined previously. But how has the River Nile been managed? Historically, Britain's colonial interests prioritised river flow to Egypt ( Laki, 1998 ). However, the 1960 Permanent Joint Te...
Read more

Toilet Wars

Image
As the weeks have passed in writing this blog, my initial omission of sanitation became too blinding to ignore.  However, u pon reflection of how "water is life, but sanitation is dignity"  ( Thieme, 2018 ) , I've decided to  explore the 'poolitics' of sanitation in Cape Town and attempt to 'examine the unmentionable' ( George, 2008 ). Within Cape Town, approximately 500,000 citizens experience insufficient sanitary services. This is partly attributed to colonial social stratification which forced Africans to the peripheries with minimal infrastructural investment ( Laporte, 2000 ). Furthermore, rapid urbanisation has caused demand for municipality services to exceed supply ( Enqvist and Ziervogel, 2019 ). Consequentially, citizens are forced to inhabit lower rungs of the 'sanitation ladder'. As seen in figure 1, open defecation is common.  Figure 1: A child defecates along a motorway ( Masixole Feni, 2016 )  Recent sanitation policies such as the ...
Read more