28 MODELS IN RESOURCE GEOGRAPHY

Dr Seema Mehra Parihar

LEARNING OUTCOME:

After studying this unit you should be able to:

• Understand the global water crises;
• Critically Analyse the exchange value perspective of resources appraisal; and Explain the water disputes in South Asia in geopolitical perspective
• Comprehend  beyond water politics

KEYWORDS

Hydro politics, water stressed countries, riparian countries, trans-boundary conflicts.

1. WATER CRISIS ACROSS THE GLOBE

    “Fierce competition for fresh water may well become a source of conflict and wars in the future.”

2. Kofi Annan, March 2001.

Water is the basic necessity for survival of life on earth. This very fact makes water the center of politics. The importance of water in global politics came into light with the opening up of new horizons for the free market capitalism. It need not be doubted that the present mode of production has made the most ubiquitous resource a rare one. The idea of commodifying, thereby encouraging the accumulation of water at one hand has created the crisis of water. When the third world countries like that of India faces water scarcity then it is the water packaging companies that are to be blamed. Clearly through the means of water capital imperial states facilitates capital accumulation through the primitive means.

    In the advanced capitalist countries people take water almost for granted, or at least they did until recently. Now more and more of us have to pay huge bills for our water. In the underdeveloped countries, however it is much worse, with over one billion having no access to safe water. Water will become a source of class conflict, as the experience of Bolivia has confirmed.Most of us take it for granted that when we turn on a tap we have access to safe and clean water to drink, to cook and to wash. However, 20% of the world’s population, over a billion people, lack access to safe drinking water and about 2.6 billion people – 40% – have no access to basic sanitation.

The issue of water is one of the largest public health issues but access to water is primarily a class issue. Without question, the world water crisis condemns billions of people to a perpetual struggle to survive at the subsistence level – millions are living on less than $1 a day. A third of the world’s population lives in “water stressed” countries (i.e. where water is scarce or of poor quality) and that number is expected to rise dramatically over the next two decades.Some countries have additional problems, including high levels of arsenic and fluoride in drinking water. Many women and young girls in rural areas around world must walk as much as six miles every day to fetch water for their families. Due to this manual labor, women and children are prevented from pursuing an education or earning an income.

Yet lack of access to water and sanitation is not just a rural issue. In 2007, for the first time in history, the majority of people will live in urban areas. Even the UN admits this will result in larger slum populations in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia and these new city residents face overcrowding, inadequate housing, and a lack of water and sanitation.Not being able to access sanitation and safe water contributes to increased poverty, poorer health and high levels of child deaths. In 2004, 2.2 million people died from drinking unsafe water, of which about 90% were children under the age of 5. Unsafe water is estimated to kill 4,500 children per day, mostly a result of diarrheal diseases – far more than are killed by Malaria and AIDS combined. It is equivalent to 25 fully loaded jumbo jets crashing every day!

Preventable deaths

“These deaths are easily preventable. Under capitalism, however, water is only an issue when it can guarantee large profits. Look no further than the privatization of water in the UK where last year a host of private water companies declared massive increases in profits. Thames Water had a 31% increase in profits despite admitting that it had missed its leak reduction target for a third successive year (The Daily Telegraph 22.6.06) and Severn Trent announced a 30% rise in profits to £400m despite being under criminal investigations by the Serious Fraud Office over false reporting – this figure would have been higher but for the £10.6m it was ordered to pay back to customers , The Daily Telegraph,2006”.Other profit increases reported included United Utilities who had a 21% rise in profits to £481m; Pennon saw profits rise by 25% to £111m and Anglian Water owner AWG announced that annual profits had trebled to £109m. (BBC 7.6.06) These massive profits even led the British TV program Panorama to ask whether the water industry should be renationalized.

The world’s financial markets are in no doubt about the benefits to big business of water privatization, prompting one money magazine to run a feature on, how to profit from the world’s water crisis. It boasts:

“Overall, the ‘scramble for water assets’ has now seen bidders put almost £12bn on the table, says The Daily Telegraph. But the buying frenzy isn’t over yet. The losers in these auctions may well be tempted to bid for one of the several other UK water companies, which are ‘ripe for takeover’. United Utilities, Severn Trent, Northumbrian Water, Kelda – the former Yorkshire Water – and Pennon, the owner of South West Water, are all seen as potential targets. As a result, their shares have soared by up to 50% over the past year (Money Week 19.10.06)”.

They continue, “So what makes utilities look so good to bidders? The reliability of the returns they offer. The system of economic regulation imposed by Ofwat offers known rates of return over five-year pricing cycles, which is attractive to private equity and infrastructure funds…. The problem here is that this is just about the only thing that makes the water utilities attractive and bidding presupposes that Ofwat keeps playing along… there are still plenty of opportunities for investors. The profits will come from companies that help nations improve the water that they already have.”

“Some years ago vice-president of the World Bank, Ismail Serageldin, said that the wars of the 21st century would be about water. Soon after this, the World Bank adopted a policy of water privatization and full-cost water pricing. This certainly caused a war – a class war – in Bolivia’s third largest city, Cochabamba. Their struggle proved that the privatization of water can be fought, Walker,2007”.

3.  GEOPOLITICS OF WATER

Geo-political image of water is a latest development in the world politics. This emergence is backed by global financial capital expansion. Water has been the spot for state’s power conflict. It has been shaping the geo-political strategies of several states. The best tool to harass a land locked country has been to stop its access to sea routes. “The global politics revolves around the hegemony over the sea routes, even the regional river routes and their water carrying capacity has been the cause of conflict among not only the states from where the river pass from but it has also involved the big powers having no physical linkage with the water source. The global finance capital expansion acting on the favor of the comprador bureaucratic capitalist state has snatched the right over the water resources of the indigenous people. This has led to change in river course as it happened with the Shivnath river, a tributary of the Narmada river. The impact of which was the loss in quality and quantity of the water in the river, Roy,1998).”.

– AFRICA

In Africa, access to water is one of the most critical aspects of human survival. Today, about one third of the total population lack access to water. Constituting 300 million people and about 313 million people lack proper sanitation.

Nile River Basin and Declining Water Resources

There are ten rivers in the Nile river basin: – Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. All these rivers share their water with different African countries hence are also called as riparian rivers. It is the longest river in the world constituting about 6700 km or 4100 miles long and drains almost all ten aforementioned countries. The flow of the Nile as a naturally endowed commodity has benefited North Eastern countries’ economic activities through agricultural and tourism. Egypt has larger concentration of desert type of region which about 90 % of total geographical area but it is only because of Nile that Egypt has survived. It is rightly said that Egypt is the gift of Nile. The Nile river determines the economy of Egypt.

MAP-1 (htt23)

“The high extent of dependence on the river water has caused the riparian countries to turn blind eye to other scope of development hence the exhausting quantity and quality of the river due to excessive pressure on it have now lead to unemployment. It has been asserted that the depletion in the basin resource is first due to the greenhouse effect and second due to the increasing population pressure on the resources. This assertion is also consistent with Oxfam studies in Aksum region and the drought that has engulfed the entire country”. In a brief quote Oxfam indicated the situation in Ethiopia and said: “Climate variability in Ethiopia is not new – but now, in addition to the usual struggles, Ethiopians living in poverty are additionally suffering the effects of climate change – both more variable climate and more extreme weather events. People who are already poor and marginalized are struggling with the added burden of climate variability. For now, this means that the little that they have goes to dealing with the current unpredictable weather because their livelihoods are so dependent on it. To cope up with the change in livelihood conditions people begin to sell of their asserts this has led to the lack of any planning for the future generational needs. Thus, communities are faced with simultaneously increasing climate variability, and with it increasing risk and vulnerability” (Oxfam 2009).

Global warming due to climatic conditions and green house emission effect according to Declan et al is one of the contributing factors for the recent water resource decline in the Nile river basin. It is argued here that high temperature in Sudan coupled with drastic depletion of ground water is due to the global climate change. Development of industrial pollutions has led to the degradation of quality and quantity of river flowing in many riparian states. The pollution growth is further accelerated by the growth in population of the region. The World Water Council says “that the population growth has doubled in the last two decades this has been possible due to the continued migration of people to the river basin areas”.

The rising population pressure and resource depletion of the river basin has been possible because the southern and the northern part receives lesser rainfall in comparison to the equatorial region of the river basin. For example, “the Nile has two confluent tributaries connecting the White Nile and the Blue Nile, the Blue Nile which is considered the most fertile for crop production flows from Lake Tianna in Ethiopia through to Sudan from the South East (B. 2008 )” .The Blue and White river basins also coincide with the division of upstream and downstream riparian, and their source of water.

The expansion of industries along the river basin has played a major in disturbing the various traditional interest of the people with the river. In 2004, the Ethiopian minister for trade “accused Egypt of using undiplomatic strategies to control Ethiopia’s development projects” on the Nile. Said, “Egypt has been pressuring international financial institutions to desist from assisting Ethiopia in carrying out development projects in the Nile basin.”

One of the major occupations for the people along the Nile basin was farming but in the recent decades the ongoing decay of environment the large-scale change in climatic condition has led to the lack of agricultural opportunity of the people. This has culminated into unemployment. The Environmental Protection Agency in its 2010 report also argued “that land degradation and deforestation in the river basin due to excessive burning for land cultivation in many parts of the Nile River has virtually eroded the oasis making it extremely tough for cultivation and water conservation”.

    Thus, before the 1950s, there were fewer resentments on the Nile water resources by riparian countries, however with changing circumstances such as declining water resources, hunger, and diseases, riparian countries have decided to renegotiate themselves in order to access the Nile. Kenya along with Ethiopia are leading the issue as has been indicated by the MP statement of Kenyan parliament “Kenyans are today importing agricultural produce from Egypt as a result of their use of the Nile water.” In a similar statement, Moses Wetangula, the assistant minister for foreign affairs remarked “Kenya will not accept any restriction on use of Lake Victoria or the river Nile” father added that “it however does not wish to be alone ranger in deciding how to use the waters, and has consequently sought the involvement of involved countries.”

-SOUTH ASIA

Dimensions of the Indus and Ganges River Basins The two major river basins in the northern parts of South Asia are the Ganges Basin and the Indus Basin. These respectively cover the eastern and western sections of the subcontinent. The significant rivers of these two basins – the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra – all originate near Mount Kailash range in Tibet. Thereafter, the Indus flows to the west, eventually running into the Arabian Sea. In contrast, the Ganges and Brahmaputra flow down to the south and east respectively. Both of these latter rivers eventually link together and discharge in the Bay of Bengal. Both of these basins are historically significant as the basis of great civilizations. The Ganges Basin is one of the largest in the world, covering a population of at least 600 million people. Nevertheless, it is also comparatively one of the most under-utilized systems in the world. Its catchment area includes five countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and China), although the majority of the downstream sections of the basin are within Bangladesh and India. The Gangetic delta is also fed by the Indian states of Uttarakhand (part of Uttar Pradesh until 2000) and Sikkim (an independent nation-state until 1973) as well as the independent nation-states of Nepal and Bhutan. The Indus Basin is ostensibly a much simpler geopolitical situation than the Ganges Basin, since it only involves two countries. The alluvial belt of Indus river comprises of 25 percent of geographical area in Pakistan while in India it is 9.8. On the Indian side, the upper part of basin includes the mountainous states of Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. The lower part of the basin includes the plains area of the fertile and productive states of Punjab and Haryana; the semi-arid Rajasthan; and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

International Contestations over water:

India-Pakistan and India Bangladesh ,given the importance of these basins, it is unsurprising that boundaries drawn across them – thus dividing their resources – have been the source of significant controversy. In this sense, the region’s defining event was the partition of British India at Independence in 1947. After war-weary Britain acceded to demands for the Independence of its former colonies, the two basins were divided between India and two geographically separate halves of Pakistan. East Pakistan, later to become Bangladesh, was surrounded by upper riparian parts of India’s North-eastern states, while the delta flowed into the Bay of Bengal in both (Pakistani) East and (Indian) West Bengal. In the western part of the sub-continent, the resulting partition of India and Pakistan was achieved by drawing a boundary across the Indus Basin, so that the upper riparian territory was claimed by India, while the Indus flows into the sea entirely within Pakistani territory. This was only an interim agreement and the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) was finally negotiated between India and Pakistan in 1960. This gave India the eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas and Sutlej) and Pakistan the western rivers (Jhelum, Chenab and the Indus itself). Since India was the upper riparian country for even these latter rivers, there were some restrictions placed on its capacity to modify the flow of these rivers. There is a commonly held belief that the Indus Water Treaty is a significant example of bilateral cooperation between two nations that otherwise remain largely mired in seemingly intractable conflicts. Advocates of this position note that the Treaty was not abrogated even during the 1965 war between the two nations. However, this largely ignores the historical contingencies that were so important in constraining Pakistan’s initial scope of action.

The agreement between India and Pakistan was largely brokered with the assistance of the World Bank and although there was the appearance of concession, India was able to achieve its objectives. The Indus basin project was a compensation which Pakistan accepted due to loss of eastern rivers. This led to the building of new storage reservoirs, barrages and inter-river link canals and the remodeling of three existing link canals. The most visible results included dams at Tarbela (the world’s largest earth filled dam), Mangla and Chashma. The main purpose of this infrastructure was irrigation, with power as a secondary objective. The Indus Basin Project was financed via the Indus Basin Development Fund (IBDF), which included contributions from the World Bank bilateral donors and a fixed contribution from India. In recognition of the fact that India was the upper riparian country for the western rivers which were allocated to Pakistani, there are restrictions placed on its capacity to modify the flow of these rivers.

National Level Conflicts:

As water becomes increasingly scarce, even national water conflicts are expected to rise. A various sector like Industry, agriculture, and the citizens compete for the resource that is so desperately needed for further development. National tensions over the distribution of water can quickly escalate into discord between groups dependent on a shared resource. India faces a large number of transnational as well as inter-state river water conflicts on shared water resources. Within India, 16 out of the 18 major river basins cover two or more States and union territory. Though ‘Water’ is listed as a state subject in the constitution of India. The Central Government of India is empowered to ensure integrated river basin development of interstate rivers, develop mechanisms to resolve disputes between riparian states and intervene in the interests of environment protection. There are also several national legislation such as the River Boards Act, the Interstate Water Disputes Act, and those relating to environmental protection, forest conservation, pollution control, etc. The legal framework consists of provisions regarding the powers of the state about water resource development and their distribution, the nature of and basis for the rights of different claimants over common sources of water, and the principles, mechanisms, and procedures for resolving disputes. However, they have not been effective in bringing about a satisfactory solution. Many of these problems are because there are not enough effective guidelines, an accepted set of parameters and indicators to resolve conflicts in addressing transboundary river water sharing issues.

Let us understand this through an example of The Kaveri basin. The Kaveri River is one of the most contentious water supplies in Southern India. The Kaveri watershed is divided between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The River Kaveri originates at Talakaveri in Coorg District of Karnataka in Brahmagiri Range of hills in the Western Ghats at an elevation of 1341 m. (above MSL) and drains a total area of 81,155 Sq.Kms. of which 34,273 Sq.Kms lies in Karnataka, 43856 Sq.Kms. In Tamil Nadu, 2866 Sq.Kms. in Kerala and 160 Sq.Kms in Union Territory of Pondicherry. It is bounded by the Western Ghats on the west, the Eastern Ghats on the east and the south and by the ridges separating it from Krishna basin and Pennar basin on the north. The total length of the river from origin to outfall is 800 km. of which 320 Kms. is in Karnataka,416 Kms.in Tamil Nadu and 64 Kms. forms the shared border between the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It’s major tributaries joining from left are the Harangi, the Hemavati, the Shimsha and the Arkavati whereas the Lakshmantirtha, the Kabbani, the Suvarnavati, the Bhavani, the Noyil and the Amaravati joins from the right. The river drains into the Bay of Bengal. The major part of the basin is covered with agricultural land accounting to 66.21% of the total area, and 4.09% of the basin is covered by water bodies. The Kaveri basin is fan-shaped in Karnataka and leaf-shaped in Tamil Nadu. Due to the shape of the basin the run-off does not drain off quickly; therefore no fast raising floods occur in the river basin. The basin receives rainfall mainly from the South-West Monsoon and partially from North-East Monsoon in the Karnataka. The river basin in Tamil Nadu receives good flows from the North-East Monsoon.

Figure: 1 Kaveri River Basin (Source: Report on Kaveri River Water Disputes, Ministry of Water Resources: Govt. of India)

Table:1 Kaveri Water Allocation by KWDT 2010.

Source: Final order of Kaveri Water Disputes Tribunal, Ministry of Water Resource. Govt. of India

Karnataka has not accepted the order and refused to release the water to Tamil Nadu. In 2013, Contempt of Court was issued against Karnataka. In 2016, a petition was filed in Supreme Court to seeking the release of water by Karnataka as per the guidelines of the tribunal. When Supreme Court ordered Karnataka to release water, Kannada people protested the decision saying they do not have enough water. The matter is still under judicial consideration.

The Inter-State Water Dispute Act, 1956 which provides the legal framework to address such disputes, suffers from many drawbacks. Under this Act, a separate Tribunal has to be established for each Inter-State River Water Dispute. Judicate all such fights looks appealing, Union Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Sushri Uma Bharti introduced Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2017 in Lok Sabha. Introducing the Bill the Minister called it a “Revolutionary step” towards the resolution of Inter-State River Water Disputes. The salient features of the bill are:

1. Permanent tribunal to look into all the river water disputes which will consist of Judges of Supreme Court and two members from Central Water Engineering Services.

2. Setting up of a Dispute Resolution committee which has to submit the report to the Central government. Within a year extendable by six months. The members can be from diverse fields.

3. All the provisions are time bound which was a major problem with an earlier act.

4. The decision of the tribunal has to be published by the Central government in official gazette after which it will be equivalent to the decision of the supreme court.

5. Central government to maintain data bank.

6. An additional rule is making power with the center.

LOOKING BEYOND WATER POLITICS

The way forward from this conflict is to look for a system in which there is some means to permit people to have access to resources. The use value of the resources has to be kept intact, the shifting from use to power value will no doubt benefit the rich imperial powers but the poor and the resource deficient country would have to surrender its sovereignty to the cause of global finance capital. The flow of river which doesn’t know the artificial man-made national or state boundaries in tandem with the water flow should be maintained but in the present system where capitalization of most human emotions is undergoing conflicts are bound to arise. Water is a humankind asset and it should be enjoyed jointly with every being on earth.

SUMMARY

• The idea of commodifying, thereby encouraging the accumulation of water at one hand has created the crisis of water.

• This emergence is backed by global financial capital expansion. Water has been the spot for state’s power conflict. It has been shaping the geo- political strategies of several states.

• As water becomes increasingly scarce, even national water conflicts are expected to rise. National tensions over the distribution of water can quickly escalate into discord between groups dependent on a shared resource.

• The use value of the resources has to be kept intact, the shifting from use to power value will no doubt benefit the rich imperial powers.

References

• http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-geopolitics-of-water-in-the-nile-river-basin/25746.
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• B., Wonddwossen Teshome. ““Transboundary Water cooperation in Africa: The case of the Nile
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• http://currentflicks.com/2017/03/22/himachal-pradesh-new-entrant-water-level-discourse/.
• Money Week. 19.10.06.
• Oxfam. 2009.
• ROY, ARUNDHATI. “THE END OF IMAGINATION.” OUTLOOK, 3 AUG 1998.
• The Daily Telegraph. 22.6.06.
• Walker, Caron. IN DEFENCE OF MARXISM. MAY 28, 2007. http://www.marxist.com/water-crisis280507.htm.