Resources Causing Political Conflict The abundance of oil and the scarcity of water… What could go wrong?!

Not enough: water

WATER’S IMPORTANCE, AVAILABILITY, AND RENEWAL Water keeps us alive, moderates climate, sculpts the land, removes and dilutes wastes and pollutants, and moves continually through the hydrologic cycle. Only about 0.02% of the earth’s water supply is available to us as liquid freshwater.

Going with the Flow Water, unlike most other natural resources, does not respect political boundaries. The natural flow of water, both on the Earth's surface and underground, routinely crosses these boundaries. When two or more sovereign countries share a watercourse, which could be a river basin, lake, or aquifer (underground water), it is considered to be an international watercourse.

Water scarcity: an average total renewable fresh water Water scarcity: an average total renewable fresh water resource of less than 1,000 cubic meters per person per year. Absolute scarcity: below 500 cubic meters per person per year.

What are the sources of fresh water for the Middle East?

ISSUE: Water Conflict in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Is one of the world’s driest region Contains 6% of world’s population but only about 1.5% of world’s freshwater resources What problems do you think the Middle East is having due to the lack of water?

MENA Population In 1960 , MENA's population was approximately 100 million. By 2007 this number quadrupled to 432 million. Estimates expect the region's population to reach 700 million by 2050.

What are the freshwater sources in MENA? What is the water scarcity situation in MENA using statistics? How is population growth making the problem worse? What is predicted to happen?

Water and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: Competition or Cooperation? Israel and Palestine, struggle over water involves, not only economic and distribution issues, but central political, legal, and territorial claims as well. For example: Palestinians have to buy their water from Israel.

Six Day War Also called June War or Third Arab-Israeli War,  brief war that took place June 5–10, 1967, and was the third of the Arab-Israeli wars. Israel’s decisive victory included the capture of the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank, Old City of Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights; the status of these territories subsequently became a major point of contention in the Arab-Israeli conflict. “…although people usually regard June 5, 1967 as the start of the Six Day War, in reality, it started two and a half years earlier on the day Israel decided to act against the diversion of the Jordan.”

Six Day War The Headwater Diversion Plan was an Arab League plan to divert two of the three sources of the Jordan River, and prevent them from flowing into the Sea of Galilee, in order to ruin Israel's plans to use the water. The plan was approved by the Arab League in 1964 but Israel prevented the project's development by conducting airstrikes in the Syrian territory.

Water sources are used for religious purposes as well In the Jordan valley the heat is often punishing for the Palestinians who are the main agricultural workforce on some Israeli-owned farms

Many Palestinian farmers and residents continue to use wells for work and drinking water. Some villages remain unconnected with the main water supply. Palestinian farming methods are more traditional, often using unirrigated land to graze sheep and goats.

Water Conflict in Syria? Turkey, Iraq, and Syria share water resources of the Euphrates River How do these countries decide who gets what? “In Syria, a devastating drought beginning in 2006 forced many farmers to abandon their fields and migrate to urban centers. There’s some evidence that the migration fueled the civil war there, in which 80,000 people have died. “You had a lot of angry, unemployed men helping to trigger a revolution,” says Aaron Wolf, a water management expert at Oregon State University, who frequently visits the Middle East. Tensions between nations are also high. Since 1975, Turkey’s dam and hydro­power construction has cut water flow to Iraq by 80 percent and to Syria by 40 percent. Syria and Iraq have accused Turkey of hoarding water.”

How does water scarcity fuel or ignite political conflict? What did the Arab League do to heighten the water conflict and how did Israel respond?

Human Environment Interaction!!! Ancient Quanat water tunnels in Iran Ataturk Dam in Turkey on the Euphrates River Pivot Irrigation in Libya and Jordan: method of water irrigation in which equipment rotates around a pivot and crops are watered with sprinklers

Building Dams How might building dams in your portion of the river affect other countries? EX: Turkey spent $32 billion to construct 22 dams along the Tigris-Euphrates river basin The result? The dam created new farmland and a supply of electricity for Turkey but cut the flow of the Euphrates into Syria and Iraq. The other countries downstream suffered.

What are some examples of HEI in regards to water? How does building dams impact the efforts to control the water supply? Think about BOTH countries involved…

Ray of Hope? Desalination What is desalination? Some desalination plants near Persian Gulf…but they are VERY expensive Paid by the tremendous oil wealth Have not been built along the Mediterranean Sea

DESALINATION ISSUES & POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS Cost Unfortunately, the energy required for this desalination today makes it very expensive for many countries.  Thus, most of the Middle Eastern countries using desalination technology on a large-scale are oil-rich countries with money to invest in the technologies and a supply of low-cost energy. Research has shown that as experience and technology have developed, including through major investments by Israel and other non-oil-producing countries, production costs for desalination have fallen[1]. Land Use Most desalination plants are located near the shoreline, which uses valuable land that could otherwise be used for tourism or wildlife preservation. A plant that produces 100 million m³/y of freshwater requires about 25 acres of land. One possible solution to minimize land use in coastal areas is to locate the plants further inland.. Groundwater Leaks The danger of leaks developing in the pipes that pump seawater and salt to and from the plants exists even when the plants are located relatively close to the shoreline. The risk of such leaks developing can be minimized by using proper sealing techniques when laying the pipes and installing detectors so that leaks can be corrected soon after they develop. The Marine Environment The main impact on the marine environment comes from returning the remaining salt to the sea after desalinating the water. The issue, then, is to create a method for dispersing the concentrated salt into the surrounding water to ameliorate its effect on the marine environment. Energy Consumption The energy consumption of desalination plants has an indirect impact on the environment. An increase in energy needed for the plants means an increase the fuels being burned. Through support of UNESCO, in 2005 a pilot solar powered desalination plant was installed in Turtkul village of the Aral Sea region. DESALINATION ISSUES & POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

What are positives and negatives to desalination? What are some map annotations for semester project?

Too much: oil

Oil Oil fields in Middle East hold ½ of all petroleum reserves in the world! Oil is transported mostly by carefully monitored above and underground pipelines

What is unique about this waterway? Strait of Hormuz What is unique about this waterway? I’ll give you a hint… There is an abundance of a certain natural resource located right here Pathway to LOTS of OIL!!!

2 minute video on the importance of this waterway. http://www.reuters.com/video/2012/01/05/whats-at-stake-strait-of-hormuz-by-the-n?videoId=228011127

Oil Dominates the Economy The principal resource in the economy of the Arabian Peninsula is oil. Large increases in oil prices allow the oil-producing nations to funnel money into development of other parts of their economies, especially water development projects.

Supranationalism: OPEC In 1960, a group of oil-producing nations, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, established an organization to coordinate policies on selling petroleum products. The group is the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, also known as OPEC. The purpose of OPEC is to help members control worldwide oil prices and production. OPEC is a powerful force in international trade. Other Southwest Asian members include Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, and Iraq.

OPEC Members: Expansion http://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/about_us/23.htm Dark Green: active members Light Green: former members

The Gulf War The Persian Gulf War (August 2, 1990 – February 28, 1991), was a war waged by coalition forces from 34 nations led by the United States against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait. In 1990 Iraq accused Kuwait of stealing Iraqi petroleum through drilling Saddam Hussein announced in a few days after invasion that it was the 19th province of Iraq

The Gulf War The Kuwaiti oil fires were caused by Iraqi military forces setting fire to a reported 605 to 732 oil wells as part of a scorched earth policy while retreating from Kuwait in 1991 due to the advances of Coalition military forces in the Persian Gulf War. The fires were started in January and February 1991, and lasted until the last well was re-capped on November 6, 1991

Something to think about? Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest producer of oil. Oil revenues make up 90-95% of the export earnings and around 35-40% of the country’s GDP. In the first 8 months of 2000, Saudi Arabia provided the U.S. with 1.5 million barrels of oil per day. Do you think the United States should protect Saudi Arabia in a time of war to protect U.S. oil interests?

How has the abundance of oil cased conflict? Which countries are the most oil rich in the region? What are some map annotations for semester project?

Middle East