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EDITORIAL
A recently published study by the international think tank IFPRI (International Food Policy Research Institute) warns that in the year 2050, 52% of the world’s population will be living in regions with extremely scarce water supplies and that 45% of global output will come under threat if the use of water resources is not drastically improved. In line with this year’s WEF Global Risks Report, political and economic leaders concur that the global water crisis and water scarcity constitute the third biggest risk facing the world.
That transboundary water resources give rise to conflict and violence is nothing new. What is new, however, is Swiss international cooperation’s initiative under the banner of “Blue Peace” to use water first and foremost as a means with the potential to promote peace.
One would usually expect development projects in the area of water to entail digging wells and providing poor populations with access to drinking water. Less usual would be a modern water project which involves uniting personalities from politics and the media in one single network aimed at strengthening political and technical dialogue on water cooperation between countries affected. The SDC’s Global Programme Water Initiatives is based on precisely such policy projects: last year it enabled 40 representatives from five Middle Eastern countries to come to Switzerland to discuss solutions to water-related problems and provided them with the opportunity to familiarise themselves with peaceful transboundary water use along the Rhine.
The “Blue Peace” approach combines politics with hands-on technical expertise. The ultimate beneficiaries are the populations threatened by conflict or water scarcity.
Christoph Graf
Deputy Assistant Director General