Jordan River |
Resource Scarcity: Water
Hydrogen as a vital human component.
Let us think of our daily lives in retrospect before delving into water in the Middle East and the Jordan River where water takes a top priority in living and sustaining countries. Like before, water has deep connections to the human experience and memory. A mother giving her child a first bath in water, learning to swim at a young age, fishing with elders or your peers, going to families or friends houses on lakes, jumping through the sprinkler on a hot day. What is common to this narrative? One where every memory surrounding water is not tainted with memories of polluted water, dwindling water supply, conflict over water usage, one where the privilege of living in an affluent society brings forth the security of water without worrying the next day where it may come from or be there when turning on the faucet. For those who do not have access to water mentioned in the former, this is an explanation of how water becomes a scarce resource amongst unstable regions and could lead to state breakdowns.
a new threshold: population growth and climate change After the Industrial Revolution, population began to expand at a rapid pace. Coinciding with new technology and expanding trade between countries, standards of living increased. As civilization expanded, thanks to an exploration of energy as a way to sustain growth, populations began to expand and civilization across the world crossed a new threshold in human and planetary history, as summarized by Escaping the Energy Bottleneck. The Fertile Crescent with its mighty history steeped in agriculture laid the groundwork for multiple civilizations to survive and sustain themselves so much that the arid desert area became a habitable zone where dominant religions were formed and civilizations formed an identity which has transcended to the present, with relation to fertilization of lands and groups of individuals staying in certain areas, according to Speth's lecture.
However, a new threshold has been crossed that presents a new dilemma: human interaction with the planet has begun to change the planet's climate which then has multiple effects. The Jordan Basin presents this in that the climate complicates the story: the scarcity of natural resources and the concentration of millions of individual vying for survival which water becomes the number one focus. The depletion of natural resources and the race to secure resources for nation states presents the context around the Jordan River politically. |
The notion of ecological violence
The Jordan River presents an environmentally political story which needs to be understood. First proposed by Thomas Homer-Dixon, eco-violence is the understanding that there is a correlation between the depletion of natural resources and the likelihood of internal conflicts and collapse of state resources. Dixon explains "...humankind will face multiple resource shortages that are interacting and unpredictable...hard to address because of powerful commitments to consumption patterns." Peter Gleick furthers the eco-violence notion and states "resources and environmental factors--especially those associated with fresh water play a tangled but definitive role in local, regional, and international disputes." Even former-Secretary of State Madeline Albright suggested that the race towards scarce resources can elevate tensions throughout different countries and territories. Neighboring Middle East and North African country, Egypt, has made an example that national security is just not military use but to focus on terms of wars over water.
World leaders have focused on water as a focal point of necessity and the realization that as natural resources dwindle, the possibility of war and internal struggle will rise. However, academics and critics have pointed to ecological violence as a weak argument and that civilizations and countries have coexisted together with resources and not led to full-scale war or conflicts. Moreover, they say, peaceful negotiations and state actors can avoid wars or conflicts over resources. Bilal Butt, professor at the University of Michigan in the School of Natural Resources, counters my argument and the one by others by providing examples of Western Europe as expansive populations that require many resources but do not have conflicts. Further, it is not the nature of resources that is the issue but the management of the natural resources that is to blame here pertaining to conflict. "Much of this centers around the fact that the linkages between resources and violence are poorly conceptualized, have inadequate data, and fail to properly understand what is happening on the ground."
While scholars and critics of the idea of eco-violence denounce the proposition and theory, I propose to them that they do not take into account histories of land, tension between rivalry sectarianism groups of individuals in a concentrated region. Gunther Baechler seems to suggest that there is ample observation that humans recreating and cultivating lands can lead to conflict and countries that fall into conflict are those who have the least wealth in their country, ie developing countries, that endear the grunt of the violence. If one is to also counter Professor Butt's critique, it is that those countries who have avoided internal conflict within their borders and surrounding countries have immense wealth and are developed countries with the stable political environment to blunt possible conflict.
Even more, the degradation of the river is decreasing the environmental state of the water and how it is used by the states that access the Jordan. It is now full of waste, pollutants, and on the verge of being ruined biologically by humans.
World leaders have focused on water as a focal point of necessity and the realization that as natural resources dwindle, the possibility of war and internal struggle will rise. However, academics and critics have pointed to ecological violence as a weak argument and that civilizations and countries have coexisted together with resources and not led to full-scale war or conflicts. Moreover, they say, peaceful negotiations and state actors can avoid wars or conflicts over resources. Bilal Butt, professor at the University of Michigan in the School of Natural Resources, counters my argument and the one by others by providing examples of Western Europe as expansive populations that require many resources but do not have conflicts. Further, it is not the nature of resources that is the issue but the management of the natural resources that is to blame here pertaining to conflict. "Much of this centers around the fact that the linkages between resources and violence are poorly conceptualized, have inadequate data, and fail to properly understand what is happening on the ground."
While scholars and critics of the idea of eco-violence denounce the proposition and theory, I propose to them that they do not take into account histories of land, tension between rivalry sectarianism groups of individuals in a concentrated region. Gunther Baechler seems to suggest that there is ample observation that humans recreating and cultivating lands can lead to conflict and countries that fall into conflict are those who have the least wealth in their country, ie developing countries, that endear the grunt of the violence. If one is to also counter Professor Butt's critique, it is that those countries who have avoided internal conflict within their borders and surrounding countries have immense wealth and are developed countries with the stable political environment to blunt possible conflict.
Even more, the degradation of the river is decreasing the environmental state of the water and how it is used by the states that access the Jordan. It is now full of waste, pollutants, and on the verge of being ruined biologically by humans.
Case studies: conflict over water AND NEIGHBORING STATES
With the Middle East as a center of intense debate, religious ferocity, ideological purity, and a colonial built region, it offers an enriching history of mankind regarding religion, kingdoms, how state boundaries are formed, and the lead up to what we now know and consider the unrest Middle East. However, entire anthologies and semesters could take the lead in deconstructing notions of the Middle East. However, the Jordan River, with its neighboring countries of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel and, and Palestinian Authority provides context to two political prongs of the river and region: one, the 6 Day War is a clear example of tensions of state expansion which led to new ownership of waterways, and two, tributaries formed off the river into neighboring countries.
Six Day War: Beginning on June 5, 1967 Israel entered into war with Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and Lebanon for a plethora of reasons, but the biggest takeaway from the Six Day War was the expansion of the state of Israel and the new control over most of the Jordan River to the North in the Golan Heights. However, water was not a main concern of the beginnings of the war but was an accidental 'win' and 'acquisition' to Israel which allowed it new avenues to water resources. Syria had wanted to diverge water at the head of the Jordan River into the Hasbani River to diverge the flow of water from flowing south to Israel. However, Israel letter decimated the waterworks section and Israel again controlled most of the Jordan River. Victor Lieberman also placed the Six Day War into a relatively understandable context of water regarding tributaries of the Jordan River and the acquisition of the Golan Heights from Syria. Following the end of the Six Day War, the New York Times had extensive coverage of the conclusion and a clipping of the front page was found through extensive research and provided much needed context, but more so for aesthetics and historical documentation, here is the front page following the end of the Six Day War. In the background of the region, however, population increased on a six fold and the resources of the water were being diverged into different regions at astonishing rates. Annual flow per person capped out at around 262 MCM while 359 was the actual per capita use of the river enhancing the importance of the flow of the Jordan and how countries surrounding it constructed dams to divert water into their countries for agricultural reasoning. Later in 1994, both Israel and Jordan came to an agreement they should share the flow of the Yarmouk River that was an extension of the Jordan River by including specific quotas that Jordan would receive 45 MCM while Israel recieved 40 MCM of the Yarmouk, which is a tributary of the Jordan River. The tributaries of the Jordan become focal points of who is getting water because after the Six Day War, it was clear that flows of water now were state boundaries and were not to be diverged from because it was a threat to the states sovereignty. Hussein Armery makes reference to the Intifada in which 215,000 Palestinians were cut off from a water system receiving only 70 L/P/D compared to their Israeli counterpart receiving 348 L/P/D. The lack of water resources to the Palestinians provides a clear cut example of how regional tensions between groups can lead to conflict. Piotrowski also details the Tigris-Euphrates as another example of the fragile nature of water and how it supports the notion that it could lead to state wars because flow of the river and the implications carries much weight. In 1975 Syria opened the Assad Reservoir which caused Iraq to react violently because of the possibility of the flow of the river into Iraq being diverted ruining its agriculture. This conflict never escalated into a regional war or conflict because Saudi Arabia was able to defuse the tension between the two states. In all, the Jordan River provides the political lens to view the river through a few different scopes. One, the new threshold humans have crossed with their activities harming nature is causing the environment to change and cause resources and nations to become vulnerable to swift changes sets the stage. Moving forward, the lessening of the flow of the Jordan depletes water resources which is leading to increasing stress on the land and neighboring countries. The Six Day War, while not initiated by water, allowed Israel to gain land and waterways that cut off resources to neighboring Syria in the Golan Heights. Further, with the river being connected to multiple countries, the cultural impact of the River adds symbolic meaning to different countries which tries to lay claim to the Jordan River. The Jordan River provides a case study in how tension between states in the Middle East can be observed and how water as a resource becomes vital in sustaining a population in arid area ridden with drought and the stakes for access to water ever high. Bibliography
Armery, Hussein A. “Water Wars in the Middle East: A Looming Threat.” The Geographical Journal 168, no. 4 (2002): 313-323. Accessed March 15, 2015. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.lib.umich.edu/stable/3451474
Butt, Bilal: Professor School of Natural Resources Clawson, Patrick. "Cooperating Rivals: The Riparian Politics of the Jordan River Basin." Middle East Quarterly 15.3 (2008): 81. Academic OneFile. Accessed March 18, 2015. http://go.galegroup.com.proxy.lib.umich.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE|A181990759&v=2.1 &u=lom_umichanna&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&authCount=1 Gruson, Sydney. “Cease-Fire In Syria Accepted; Israelis Hold Border Heights; Soviet Breaks Ties To Israel.” New York Times, June 11, 1967. Accessed March 16, 2015. http://jcpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/new_york_times_june_11.pdf Hirsch, Abraham M. “From the Indus to the Jordan: Characteristics of Middle East International River Disputes.” Political Science Quarterly 171, no. 2 (1956): 203-222. Accessed March 14, 2015. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.lib.umich.edu/stable/2145024 T. F. Homer-Dixon, “Environmental Scarcities and Violent Conflict, Evidence from Cases,” in: S. Lynn-Jones, S. Miller (eds.), Global Dangers: Changing Dimensions of International Security, Cambridge, MA, 1995, pp. 158–159 Lieberman, Victor: Professor in College of the Literature, Science, and the Arts in History Department Map of Jordan River. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl Piotrowski, Marcin Andrezej. “Water and Middle East Geopolitics and Security.” The Polish Quarterly of International Affairs, no. 2 (2005): 82-97. Accessed March 15, 2015. Water and Middle East Geopolitics Link Samuels, Richard J. “Middle East Conflicts.” In Encyclopedia of United States National Security. 458-463. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412952446 Wolf, T. Aaron. "Hydrostrategic" Territory in the Jordan Basin: Water, War, and Arab-Israeli Peace Negotiations." University of Alabama Dissertation. |