NEWS
Geostrategy of water
Why water has become a subject of collective security
By Franck Galland Foreword by Loïc Fauchon, President of the World Water Council
Today, and even more so tomorrow, water has become an issue of power and a source of tension between States. Water has already been placed at the heart of the strategic priorities and collective security problems of some countries. Franck Galland provides evidence of this through the analysis of concrete examples taken from the Near and Middle East and the Asia-Pacific zone considered as two large geographical areas.
In the Middle East, water is thus an eminently sensitive subject of national defence for Israel. It has become an instrument of foreign policy in Turkey. In Mesopotamia, it is an issue of stability for countries like Syria and Iraq.
In Asia, water and the environment are becoming subjects of society in China, which will undeniably become factors of political destabilisation if they are not dealt with appropriately. Furthermore, water will be an increasing source of tension in China’s diplomatic relations with its close (countries of Central Asia, Russia and India) and more distant neighbours (Vietnam). In Australia, a general mobilisation has been decreed concerning water, since the country’s water situation is considered so worrying. Lastly, in Singapore, water is a matter of national independence and long-term sustainability for the city-state.
Besides the observations and prospects, the author throws light on current government thinking and the strategic decisions to be expected from countries fairly advanced on the concepts of “water security” or “environmental security”, such as Great Britain, and especially the United States. For the Pentagon’s security experts, or those of strategic research institutes in the English-speaking countries, water is becoming such a critical issue in some parts of the world that it requires new strategic postures and operational response capacities to the “unconventional” crises that might occur.
Who are and which will be the players of this new “great game”, to take the name of the strategic rivalry that opposed the British Empire to Tsarist Russia in Central Asia in the 19th century? How can France and Europe intervene in this context? With which strategy, and on which bases? These are the questions asked and the answers provide in the work by Franck Galland.
Franck Galland will speak at the Security and Defence Learning forum on Wednesday, December 3rd at Hotel InterContinental Berlin.
