VAND - konflikt eller samarbejde?
In English below
Hvad bliver konsekvenserne for de fattige af øget konkurrence om vand i udviklingslandenes landdistrikter?
Det skal et nyt forskningsprogram, ledet af Dansk Institut for Internationale Studier, give svar på.
Danida’s forskningsudvalg for udviklingsforskning har netop bevilget 10 millioner kroner til et forskningsprogram, der i løbet af de næste tre år (2007 – 2010), skal kortlægge konflikter og samarbejde om vand i fem lande i Latin Amerika, Afrika og Asien og analysere konsekvenserne for de fattige. Forskningen, som vil blive koordineret af seniorforsker Helle Munk Ravnborg, DIIS, vil blive gennemført i samarbejde med såvel danske som nationale og internationale partnere i Bolivia, Nicaragua, Mali, Zambia og Vietnam. Derudover vil der foregå forskning i Tanzania i tilknytning til programmet.
Vand er nødvendig for udvikling. Derfor er et af FNs 2015-mål da også at halvere andelen af mennesker som ikke har sikker adgang til rent drikkevand og sanitet. Men vand er ikke kun vigtigt for de fattige som drikkevand. Vand er nødvendigt til vanding af afgrøder og kvæg, til opretholdelse af økosystemer der sikrer vandforsyningen, bestande af ferskvandsfisk, græsningsmuligheder for kvæg, osv., hvis de fattige skal ud af deres fattigdom.
Der har de seneste år været et stigende fokus på vand som kilde til konflikt, ikke mindst siden afholdelsen af World Water Week i Stockholm tidligere i år og udgivelsen af FNs udviklingsprograms Human Development Report 2006 Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis. Det er især risikoen for konflikter hen over landegrænserne, der har været fokus på, og det er derfor også dem, vi – takket være international forskning – ved mest om. Men frygten for, at vi de næste årtier vil se stadig flere og mere alvorlige, lokale vandkonflikter, er stigende.
Vores nuværende viden om lokale vandkonflikter er imidlertid begrænset og stammer især fra sporadiske beretninger om lokale vandkonflikter snarere end fra systematiske undersøgelser. Derfor ved vi faktisk ikke, om der bliver flere og alvorligere vandkonflikter efterhånden som konkurrencen om de tilgængelige vandressourcer skærpes, eller om den skærpede konkurrence snarere resulterer i øget samarbejde mellem – udvalgte – grupper i deres forsøg på at skabe sig sikker adgang til vand.
Uden en sådan viden er der fare for at igangværende initiativer i mange udviklingslande til at sikre en mere effektiv og ligelig vandforvaltning vil fejle. Det er baggrunden for, at DIIS sammen med sine partnere i Nord og Syd har sat sig som opgave at skabe en systematisk viden om konflikter og samarbejde i lokal vandressourceforvaltning og deres konsekvenser for de fattige.
Se programbeskrivelsen her.
Yderligere oplysninger om det nye forskningsprogram kan fås hos seniorforsker Helle Munk Ravnborg, , 3269 8694.
Yderligere information om programpartnere og institutioner involveret i forberedelsen af programforslaget:
Danish Institute for International Studies, Natural Resources and Poverty research unit
Nordeco
DHI Water and Environment
Centro Agua (Bolivia)
Ambato Water Agency (Ecuador)
Provincial Government of Tungurahua (Ecuador)
University of Bamako (Mali)
Nitlapán (Nicaragua)
Institute of Resource Assessment (Tanzania)
Centre for Agro-Ecological Research and Environmental Studies (Vietnam)
Center for Integrated Water Resources Management (Zambia)
International Water Management Institute (South Africa)
International Institute for Environment and Development (United Kingdom)
In English
Conflict or cooperation about water
What are the consequences for the poor of increased water competition in the rural areas of developing countries?
A new research programme, coordinated by Danish Institute for International Studies will shed new light on this.
Danida’s Research Unit for Development Research has approved funding of DKK 10 million for a new research programme which during the next three years (2007 – 2010) will map conflicts and cooperation about water in five countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia, and analyze their consequences for the poor. The programme will be coordinated by senior researcher Helle Munk Ravnborg, DIIS. The research will be undertaken in collaboration with Danish as well as national and international partners in Bolivia, Nicaragua, Mali, Zambia and Vietnam. Research in Tanzania will also be coordinated with the programme.
Water is a precondition for development. Thus, part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is to halve by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation. However, the relationship between poverty and water reaches far beyond the lack of access to safe drinking water, particularly in rural areas. If the rural poor are to move out of poverty, secure access to water for productive purposes is crucial. This includes e.g. irrigation and water retention for crop production; watering of animals; ecosystem protection to ensure fish and grazing availability as well as for environmental services (e.g. flood as well as drought control).
Recent years have witnessed an increasing focus on water as a source of conflict, not least since the World Water Week held in Stockholm earlier this year and the publication of UNDP’s Human Development Report 2006 Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis. Much of the focus has been on the risk for transboundary water conflicts, and – thanks to research – it is therefore also transboundary conflicts we know most about.
However, fears are growing that the number and intensity of local water conflicts will increase during the next decades. Yet, our current knowledge on local water conflicts is limited and tends to be based mostly on sporadic accounts of local water conflicts rather than on systematic empirical evidence. So, we actually do not know whether the number and severity of local water conflicts is growing as competition for available water resources sharpens or whether the increased competition rather results in increased cooperation between – certain – societal actors in their efforts to ensure secure access to water. The lack of such knowledge jeopardizes current initiatives taken in many developing countries to ensure a more efficient and equitable water governance. It is on this background that DIIS together with its partners in North and South are embarking upon the task of generating a more systematic knowledge base on conflicts and cooperation in local water governance and their consequences for the poor.
See project description here.
More information about the direct programme partners and the institutions involved in preparing the programme proposal:
Danish Institute for International Studies, Natural Resources and Poverty research unit
Nordeco
DHI Water and Environment
Centro Agua (Bolivia)
Ambato Water Agency, Ecuador
Provincial Government of Tungurahua (Ecuador)
University of Bamako (Mali)
Nitlapán (Nicaragua)
Institute of Resource Assessment (Tanzania)
Centre for Agro-Ecological Research and Environmental Studies (Vietnam)
Center for Integrated Water Resources Management (Zambia)
International Water Management Institute (South Africa)
International Institute for Environment and Development (United Kingdom)
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