Basra is Thirsty
Basra is Thirsty

Author: Belkis Wille

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 119

ISBN-13: 9781623137502

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"For almost 30 years, including during the period of occupation by the US- and UK-led Coalition Provisional Authority, authorities in Iraq have failed to provide Basra's 4 million residents with safe drinking water. The water crisis came to a head in 2018, when at least 118,000 people were hospitalized with rashes, abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea because of contamination of the water in the Shatt al-Arab, the river Basra sits on. A severe water shortage from upstream has led to seawater incurring into the Shatt al-Arab so that farmers have had to irrigate their land with salt water - losing most of their produce over the last decade. This continuing water crisis is a result of a complex combination of factors including mismanagement of upstream flows leading to too little water coming to Basra; pollution in Basra and further upstream, including raw sewage, garbage, oil spills, and industrial and agricultural waste; damming by neighboring Iran and Turkey; and climate change. Corruption, including by local authorities, has also led to illegal use of precious freshwater resources. Since last summer the government has refused to make public any of its investigations into why the water poisoned people. Nor has it announced any significant measures to improve the quality of water in Basra in coming years. Iraqi authorities have an obligation to secure Basrawis' right to use their land and to safe drinking water and to inform the public when water sources are unsafe. Where authorities have violated these rights, they should ensure that people can access an effective remedy against those responsible"--Page 4 of cover

Turkey's Water Policy
Turkey's Water Policy

Author: Aysegul Kibaroglu

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2011-08-19

Total Pages: 426

ISBN-13: 3642196365

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Water is a strategic natural resource of vital importance to all nations. As such it has been the cause of several international disputes. For Turkey especially, water is crucial to social and economic development. Turkey’s current national water regime that emphasises water resources development and management for productive uses, however, faces growing environmental concerns and international criticism regarding transboundary water cooperation. Furthermore, EU accession requires Turkey to adopt an extensive and ambitious body of EU water law. To understand Turkey’s position to international water law, the national policies and socio-economic circumstances that impact water resources management need to be considered. This book fills the existing knowledge gap through a broad perspective and analysis of the current state of Turkey’s water policy and its management of both national and transboundary waters. It is a unique undertaking that brings together Turkish and international authors, practitioners and academics, covering all aspects of water management

Water and Conflict in the Middle East
Water and Conflict in the Middle East

Author: Marcus Dubois King

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2020-12

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0197552633

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume explores the role of water in the Middle East's current economic, political and environmental transformations, which are set to continue in the near future. In addition to examining water conflict from within the domestic contexts of Iraq, Yemen and Syria-- all experiencing high levels of instability today--the contributors shed further light on how conflict over water resources has influenced political relations in the region. They interrogate how competition over water resources may precipitate or affect war in the Middle East, and assess whether or how resource vulnerability impacts fragile states and societies in the region and beyond. Water and Conflict in the Middle East is an essential contribution to our understanding of turbulence in this globally significant region.

The Euphrates River and the Southeast Anatolia Development Project
The Euphrates River and the Southeast Anatolia Development Project

Author: John F. Kolars

Publisher: SIU Press

Published: 1991

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 9780809315727

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book makes clear that water, not oil, is the key to the future of the Middle East. The Southeast Anatolia Development Project (SEAP) begun by Turkey will irrigate over 1.7 million hectares of new land, double its energy production, and provide agricultural surpluses that Turkey hopes to sell to its Arab neighbors. When SEAP is in full operation, however, the downstream nations will be faced with a greatly reduced flow of water of altered quality in the Euphrates. The war with Iraq has intensified the political significance of the project.

Strategic Water
Strategic Water

Author: Frederick Lorenz

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2017-08-23

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 9781975721589

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

After the final phase of drawdown of U.S. troops in Iraq, it is important to do what we can to help maintain a level of stability and to look ahead to emerging security threats. Strategic Water: Iraq and Security Planning in the Euphrates-Tigris Basin by Frederick Lorenz and Edward J. Erickson makes an important contribution to this effort by taking a close look at a serious problem that is often neglected-the decline in freshwater availability and its impact on regional security. With convincing authority, the authors make it clear that the situation in Iraq is deteriorating much faster than expected, and in a few years much of Iraq's water supply will be undrinkable, largely due to high salinity levels. This book not only predicts a crisis, it provides some details on what that crisis might look like: an ugly mix of human suffering, governmental instability, population movement, and a rise in extremist violence. Despite the fact that the United States may have less influence in Iraq in the short term, we cannot deny that it remains a vital U.S. interest to keep the region secure. And there are things that can be done in the short term to help avoid the worst-case scenario.

Water In The Middle East
Water In The Middle East

Author: Thomas Naff

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-06-08

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 1000011232

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The scarcity and rapid depletion of water in one of the world's driest regions continues to be a major determinant of the domestic and external policies of the major actors in the Middle East. Israel, Jordan, and the West Bank will have exhausted virtually all their renewable sources of fresh water by 1995 if current patterns of consumption are not radically altered. This study examines the hydrological, historical, legal, and strategic dimensions of water problems in the Middle East and discusses their implications for the future.

Spillover from the Conflict in Syria
Spillover from the Conflict in Syria

Author: William Young

Publisher: Rand Corporation

Published: 2014-08-27

Total Pages: 85

ISBN-13: 0833087266

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

All roads lead to Damascus and then back out again, but in different directions. The financial and military aid flowing into Syria from patrons and neighbors is intended to determine the outcome of the conflict between a loose confederation of rebel factions and the regime in Damascus. Instead, this outside support has the potential to perpetuate the existing civil war and to ignite larger regional hostilities between Sunni and Shia areas that could reshape the political geography of the Middle East. This report examines the main factors that are likely to contribute to or impede the spread of violence from civil war and insurgency in Syria, and then examines how they apply to Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan.

Iraq, Its Neighbors, and the United States
Iraq, Its Neighbors, and the United States

Author: Henri J. Barkey

Publisher: US Institute of Peace Press

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 269

ISBN-13: 1601270771

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"[This book] examines how Iraq's evolving political order affects its complex relationships with its neighbors and the United States. The book depicts a region unbalanced, shaped by new and old tensions, struggling with a classic collective action dilemma, and anxious about Iraq's political future, as well as America's role in the region, all of which suggest trouble ahead absent concerted efforts to promote regional cooperation. In the volume's case studies ... [scholars] review Iraq's bilateral relationships with Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf Arab states, Syria, and Jordan and explore how Iraq's neighbors could advance the country's transition to security and stability. The volume also looks at the United States' relations with and long-term strategic interests in Iraq and offers recommendations for how the United States can help Iraq strengthen and grow"--Page 4 of cover.

Syria’s Conflict Economy
Syria’s Conflict Economy

Author: Jeanne Gobat

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2016-09-07

Total Pages: 29

ISBN-13: 1475533748

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Five years into the ongoing and tragic conflict, the paper analyzes how Syria’s economy and its people have been affected and outlines the challenges in rebuilding the economy. With extreme limitations on information, the findings of the paper are subject to an extraordinary degree of uncertainty. The key messages are: (1) that the devastating civil war has set the country back decades in terms of economic, social and human development. Syria’s GDP today is less than half of what it was before the war started and it could take two decades or more for Syria to return to its pre-conflict GDP levels; and that (2) while reconstructing damaged physical infrastructure will be a monumental task, rebuilding Syria’s human and social capital will be an even greater and lasting challenge.