Water in the Middle East

The book deals with the potential conflicts over shared rivers in the Middle East, and with approaches towards cooperation regarding the Euphrates and Tigris, the Jordan and the Nile Rivers. Far from echoing the warnings about imminent water wars, the book highlights the potential for water savings and for cooperation in many fields inside and outside the water sector. Such creative approaches may foster interdependence, build trust, and create the incentives and conditions for an equitable sharing of international water resources in the Middle East. The text of the International Water Convention is also included.In the 1980s, scientists, politicians and journalists frequently emphasized, particularly on the Jordan, Euphrates and Nile Rivers, that conflicts over shared water resources would lead to "water wars". A closer analysis shows that non-water issues have played the major role when conflicts in the region became heated, with the water issue being politically implemented. However, the unregulated and unequitable access to international rivers and the unilateral development of irrigated agriculture add to already high political tensions. The authors reveal that multilateral agreements over shared waters are a realistic option even in politically strained situations, if the expected costs of non-agreement are perceived as too high. If cooperation is beneficial to all Middle East nation states, it is easier to shift from overemphasis on national sovereignty to the concept of restricted national sovereignty and integrity which corresponds to international law.