Water: Asia's New Battleground

Water: Asia's New Battleground

Winner of the Asia Society's Bernard Schwartz 2012 Book Award

The battles of yesterday were fought over land. Those of today are over energy. But the battles of tomorrow may be over water. Nowhere is that danger greater than in water-distressed Asia.

Water stress is set to become Asiaâ€™s defining crisis of the twenty-first century, creating obstacles to continued rapid economic growth, stoking interstate tensions over shared resources, exacerbating long-time territorial disputes, and imposing further hardships on the poor. Asia is home to many of the world's great rivers and lakes, but its huge population and exploding economic and agricultural demand for water make it the most water-scarce continent on a per capita basis. Many of Asiaâ€™s water sources cross national boundaries, and as less and less water is available, international tensions will rise. The potential for conflict is further underscored by Chinaâ€™s unrivaled global status as the source of transboundary river flows to the largest number of countries, ranging from India and Vietnam to Russia and Kazakhstan; yet a fast-rising China has declined to enter into water-sharing or cooperative treaties with these states, even as it taps the resources of international rivers.

Water: Asiaâ€™s New Battleground is a pioneering study of Asiaâ€™s murky water politics and the relationships between fresh water, peace, and security. In this unique and highly readable book, Brahma Chellaney expertly paints a larger picture of water across Asia, highlights the security implications of resource-linked territorial disputes, and proposes real strategies to avoid conflict and more equitably share Asiaâ€™s water resources.

Country	USA
Author	Brahma Chellaney
Binding	Kindle Edition
EISBN	9781626160217
Format	Kindle eBook
Label	Georgetown University Press
Manufacturer	Georgetown University Press
NumberOfPages	398
PublicationDate	2013-07-25
Publisher	Georgetown University Press
ReleaseDate	2013-07-25
Studio	Georgetown University Press

Water: Asia's New Battleground

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