The invisible water conflicts

The possibility of a future dominated by major international “water wars” has often grabbed media attention in recent years. But for villagers in rural Zambia, water conflict and cooperation is already a part of everyday life.

This is documented in a recently published article prepared jointly by researchers from DIIS, the University of Zambia and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). The researchers found that water conflict and cooperation in such areas is of a very localized nature, often taking place within (rather than between) individual villages, and frequently dealing with small-scale issues such as access to a newly drilled well.

Significantly, such conflict and cooperation events often take place without the knowledge of outsiders, and are therefore to a large extent “invisible” to government staff and policy makers. They are also much less dramatic than larger-scale conflicts over e.g. dams or major new irrigation schemes. And yet, the small-scale conflicts actually appear to affect more people in total, simply because they are much more frequent and widespread.

The article therefore argues that policy-makers and donor agencies need to ensure that the attention to larger-scale water conflicts is balanced with equal attention to the many everyday water conflict and cooperation events in the South.

Link to article abstract and journal homepage:

“Understanding local water conflict and cooperation- the case of Namwala District, Zambia”

Related links:
“When more water leads to conflict”.
Video report from Namwala district, Zambia

“50.000 water supply points failed in Africa” DIIS radio and newspaper comments

Competing for Water Research Programme

For more information, please contact:
Mikkel Funder, DIIS Natural Resources and Poverty Unit