BLUF: Water Wars

As geopolitical issues continue to grow more complicated, we want to draw your attention back to a much simpler national security issue: resource security. Often taken for granted, reliable sources of food and potable water are critical assets for many nations who in some cases border a potential adversary. Just look at the headlines.

Earlier this year, India formally suspended its participation in the Indus Waters Treaty, a Cold War-era agreement that had governed water flows between India and Pakistan for more than six decades, following the deadly terrorist attacks in Kashmir. The move was a historic break from precedent, with over 200 million Pakistanis relying on the Indus River. 

More recently, China has broken ground on what it claims will be the world’s largest hydropower project: a $170 billion system of five dams on the Yarlung Zangbo river in Tibet, which becomes the Brahmaputra downstream in India and Bangladesh. The project promises clean energy and stimulus for China’s slowing economy, but it has stirred deep anxiety in South Asia. Indian officials fear the dams could dry up as much as 80% of river flow, disrupt sediment flow vital to agriculture, and increase flood risk. 

These crises underscore a constant that too often gets overlooked: access to natural resources is rarely thought of, but often treated as a background concern. A lack of transparency and unwillingness to cooperate over a human necessity will continue to be  a major spark point in every corner of the globe.

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