water wars revision cards

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key players in preventing conflict

WTO, IMF, TNC- provide privatised water soluations
countries such as Bolivia have attempted to try this but in this particular case it failed badly with a lack of coverage and high prices preventing access
WWAP- World water assessment programme- set up in 2000 to monitor changes in water demand and liklihood for conflict so it could be diffused.
geo/hyrdopolitics- Implimented by the UN in order to help reach agreements over water, Helsinki rules attempt to share water according to need

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River Nile

the nile has been a source of tension for many years

egypt feels it has right over the water way due to papers signed under the British Empire
94% of all water in Nile used by Egypt or Sudan
Ethiopia attempted to dam the river in 1999 but Egypt threatened by war
Nile basin initiative helps to agree equitable use and diffuse conflict

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Aral Sea

Enviornmental Impacts-
water level dropped 23m
Inceased salination- 14% rise,  worst in east due to smaller size and therefore larger concentration
loss of fish- from 43430 tonnes in 1960 to 0 tonnes 1980
Desertification- loss of 40% of vegetation, 6 million hectares of land lost
Soil erosion due to less groundwater flow, prompted fertiliser use which meant it ended up in the sea.
rise in temp in area 50-60%
Impacts to life- illness from dirty water, loss of livelihood, increased cases of kidney disease, decreased food production, cancer and TB cases rise

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Coca-cola in Kerela

permit given to extract water from aquifer
everyday 51,000litres of water extracted, people therefore have to walk 5km to get water
locals could not irrigate crops
state did not renew license and so matter taken to high court, issued challenged and permit granted for up to 300,000 litres per day due to lack of evidance over impacts

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The Ganges

conflict began in 1951 when india diverted water from ganges via fakara dam
many short term agreements and memorandums in 1977, 1996, 1983, 1985
flow to Bangladesh halved after Fakara dam built
bangladesh took matter to UN many times
Bangladesh argued there is adequate storeage in the ganges for india and it does not need to abstract all this water

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Water: right or commodity?

basic right- key players- charities, governments, UN
arguements- Bolivia example, income only $5200 per year so cannot afford to pay for it even though it is recognised by the UN as vital to having adeuqate living standard, 60% Bolivians below poverty line

commodity- key players- Bolivian government, intl organisations, TNC Aguas Del Tunari
Arguements- private sector can provide better service and coverage thna state, without charging people waste water, miscuni project and dam building come with TNC investment

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Water solutions

large scale-
benefits- Employment, positive multipier, long term fix, HEP, tech to reach hard to get water, guaranteed investment, fix problems for millions
costs- costly, difficult to find specialists, long time to build, lack of local support, jobs do not go to locals

small scale-
benefits- Education, locals maintain to ensure long term sustainability, limited enviornmental impact, easy to maintain, appropriate tech,
costs- no wide reaching impacts, exploit finite resources eg aquifers, NGO's lack of funding or donor fatigue and some countries do not trust western NGO's

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turkish gap project

-The original initiative consisted of irrigation and hydroelectric energy production projects on the euphrates (Firat) and the tigris (Dicle) rivers.
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construction of 22 dams and 19 power plants
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The total cost of the project is 32 billion US$. As of 2015 the total installed capacity of its power plants is 7490 MW and the ultimate production target of GAP plants is 27 billion kWh

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internal conflicts

Murray darling 
-conflict between farmers and other residents
-farmers believe they should get water whereas residents believe they should have it for their own leisure. We supply about 1.4 billion litres of water a day to homes and business in greater Sydney. Households use 70% of this water and businesses, industry and schools use the other 30%. 
-farmers say that hosepipe bans should be put in place in order to allow them to have enough water 

colorado
-90% of water extracted before river reaches mexico 
-The American Southwest has suffered from a massive drought for more than a decade now. The Americans started calling it simply the big drought. For years already, the U.S. has been consuming more water from the Colorado River than the river receives from melting mountain snow. This has led to conflict over sustainability 
-conflict as San Diego is provided with 70% of its water by the colorado while Las Vegas also recieves huge amount which causes interstate conflict 
-Conflict with Mexico is also a massive issue as water no longer reaches the ocean on some years

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