Water and Politics

South Sudan water crisis In an ideal world, every person on this planet would have access to safe drinking water. In Africa, issues related to accessibility and sporadic occurrence paired with increasing population pressure prevent this goal from being achieved. In this blog post I will look at the ongoing water crisis in South Sudan and the role of the Nile for the country. The Nile River Basin is a geographic area of high water availability but as a direct consequence of the mismanagement of access to and usage of it, hydropolitical issues have been the root cause of international disputes between the riparian states over the past century. Credits: The World Bank Group South Sudan water conflict The war in South Sudan has escalated to unexpected levels. According to aid officials, emergency and food trucks are being hijacked and intentionally blocked by both rebel forces and government soldiers. Efforts by aid workers to reach vulnerable populations have been complicat...

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Environmental Outlook to 2030 report , 47% of the world’s population will be living in areas of high water stress by 2030. This proportion is reflected in Kenya’s current state of humanitarian crisis (OECD, 2008); 23 out of 47 counties and have declared a state of drought emergency. Water shortages and declining water availability exacerbate the spread of deadly disease and food insecurity across the country, in turn fuelling the existing tribal tensions between different groups. The competition for water continues to grow in step with population pressure, leading to extreme instability of community relations where “fighting could break out at any moment” (Oxfam, 2017). Women and children are particularly vulnerable and susceptible to these consequences (OCHA, 2017). This post will explore some of the specific consequences that have arisen as a direct result of this resource shortage with a specific focu...