Every year, World Water Day is celebrated on March 22, established by the United Nations in 1992 with the dual objective of raising public awareness of the importance of protecting water resources and promoting concrete actions to address global water challenges. The theme of World Water Day 2024 is “Water for Peace”: when we collaborate on water management we promote harmony, generate prosperity and build a more peaceful world.
The role of water in conflicts
Disputes over the physical or economic control of basins, aquifers and water infrastructure date back to the earliest times of humanity.
Water, being a strategic asset, plays a crucial role in shaping global dynamics, both of harmony and conflict: when it is scarce or contaminated or when access to it is unequal, tensions can grow between communities and countries.
During armed conflicts, water can become an instrument of control over populations or of pressure on opposing groups and water resources, supply systems and water-related public services are often the target of deliberate attacks that violate the rules of international humanitarian law and threaten the health of local communities.
According to an estimate based on reconstructions by the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security, in the last 4 thousand years, almost 1300 conflicts have had to do with water and since 2000 the frequency of conflict events relating to supply and water control has increased dramatically.
As populations grow and global warming increases, good water management will become increasingly important in the fight against poverty and environmental deterioration.
Water cooperation: an urgent need
Transboundary waters (river or lake aquifer basins between two or more countries) represent 60% of the world’s freshwater flows and over 3 billion people depend on water resources that cross national borders, but only 24 nations report having established cooperation agreements for the management of these shared resources (Un-Water, 2021).
Water cooperation should be placed at the center of Nations’ action plans since its lack represents a risk to the quality and quantity of water supplies and therefore a threat to social and international stability.
There are already many peaceful and fruitful cooperation discussions on shared water resources but there is still a long way to go, and everyone can do their part to promote a fair and sustainable use of water.
Our commitment
ISOIL Industria joins the World Water Day call to make water an instrument of peace: we commit every day to doing our part to build greater awareness of water-related problems and work constantly to provide measurement solutions cutting-edge technology to make its management more efficient, sustainable and equitable (flow meters, water loss detection tools and multiparametric probes for water quality analysis).
If you work in the water sector and would like further information contact our specialists!