Zafar Adeel – författare

Water security, which pertains to the experience of assured access to clean water, is a broad concept that intersects human rights, politics, economics, law, legislation, public health, trade, agriculture, and energy. Decisions made at each of these intersection points have ramifications for human well being, especially for the populations that are marginalized in a societal and political sense. In this book, the ethical dimensions of decision-making at those intersection points are explored, and real-world examples are used to tease out some key insights. It charts how ethical consideration can help shape a future in which everyone will be water secure.

This volume calls upon over a dozen Indus observers to imagine a scenario for the Indus basin in which transboundary cooperation over water resources overcomes the insecurity arising from water dependence and scarcity. From diverse perspectives, its essays examine the potential benefits to be gained from revisiting the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, as well as from mounting joint efforts to increase water supply, to combat climate change, to develop hydroelectric power, and to improve water management.

The Indus basin is shared by four countries (Afghanistan, China, India, and Pakistan). The basin’s significance stems in part simply from the importance of these countries, three of them among the planet’s most populous states, one of them boasting the world’s second largest economy, and three of them members of the exclusive nuclear weapons club. However, the basin’s significance stems also from the great importance of the Indus waters themselves – due especially to the region’s massive dependence on irrigated agriculture as well as to the menace of climate change and advancing water scarcity. 

This book investigates the need for a more open and interdisciplinary dialogue on the nexus of food, water and energy security in the Arab region. It argues that achieving sustainable economic development is irretrievably tied to the security of the water–energy–food nexus, which is in turn essential for bringing about sustained peace. Further, it discusses various approaches to achieving these lofty objectives, and offers the following take-away messages:

This volume collects essays from academics and practitioners from a diversity of areas and perspectives in order to discuss water security at various levels and to illuminate the central idea of water security: its focus on the individual. Beginning with the big picture, this book aims to illustrate the depth of the water security crisis and its interconnections with other aspects of societal development. It particularly draws a connection to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and discusses that challenges faced in meeting the 17 sustainability development goals (SDG) by the year 2030. Moving from international to domestic and community perspectives, this book provides a unique analysis of issues and solutions to the water issues we face today in light of the ever looming global changes brought on by climate change.

Over the past few decades the recognition of our common need for water has increased, as policymakers have sought to place more focus on the individual within policy. After the recognition of water and sanitation as a fundamental human right by the United Nations General Assembly in 2010, there is increasing recognition of the individual as the building block for the struggle for water security. This reality also intersects with adverse impacts of global climate change, and the book responds to the broader question: will clean and safe water be available where we need it and when we need it in the future?