Blue Peace proposes seven principles of cooperation for sustainable management of region’s water resources

AMMAN — The Blue Peace initiative has proposed seven principles of cooperation to facilitate the establishment of a council for the sustainable management of water resources in the Middle East.

Over 90 policy makers, parliamentarians, media personnel, academics and water experts from across the Middle East discussed the cooperation principles at the first annual High Level Forum on Blue Peace in the Middle East, which was held in Istanbul earlier this month.

Participants at the September 19-20 forum proposed initiatives at bilateral as well as regional levels to promote cooperation and sustainable management of the region’s water resources.

The first principle proposes that water  resources be accepted as a common and shared responsibility, but given the current unrest in the Middle East, participants said the region was not yet ready to take such a leap, highlighting that in the immediate future, regional countries should at least accept treating water resources as a principle of common and shared responsibility, not of common ownership.

Confidence-building measures, such as  data and technology exchange, and the development of a common methodology should be supported as well to enhance water cooperation among the region’s countries, the initiative proposed.

Despite the difficulties in the Middle  East, the Tigris Consensus Statement shows that there is wide support for the principle of data and technology exchange, according to organisers. The statement proposes a way forward to building trust between Iraq and Turkey, to begin implementing agreements for data exchange, and to promote cooperation in a gradual manner.

Riparian countries and communities should also cooperate to manage climate risk, Blue Peace participants underlined, highlighting that despite uncertainty about projections of climate change in the Middle East, there is a need to plan for a response to climate risk in a collaborative manner.

The principles also suggest that each country should manage water resources efficiently, indicating that trans-boundary cooperation will only be feasible if there is efficient utilisation of water resources within countries.

Efficient utilisation of water among countries sharing water resources also involves reducing dependence on water-intensive crops and honouring cooperative agreements about extracting ground water.

The sixth principle underlined that water should not be used as an instrument of war, and water resources should be protected from terrorist activities and violent actions, while the seventh principle proposed that sustainable water management should particularly address the situation of vulnerable communities.

Maysoon Zu’bi, a member of the Blue Peace core group and former secretary general of the Water Ministry, stressed that vulnerable communities, such as women, refugees and the underprivileged, should have access to clean and sufficient amounts of water.

“Water must be addressed as a top priority because it is the main driver of the economy and just as it can be a tool for achieving peace, it can also be a cause for wars if neglected,” Zu’bi noted.

“The Blue Peace: Rethinking Middle East Water” report, launched by the Strategic Foresight Group (SFG) in 2011, redefines water in the Middle East as an instrument for cooperation and suggests 10 recommendations to achieve water security and regional peace.

The report suggested that water in the Middle East can be used as an opportunity for achieving peace and development rather than treated as a problem and a source of conflict.

The SFG’s 2013 report “Water Cooperation for a Secure World — Focus on the Middle East” suggested that any two countries engaged in active water cooperation do not go to war, indicating that there is a strong correlation between the degree of cooperation in water and the general atmosphere of peace and friendship between any two countries or more.

The report highlighted that out of the 148 countries sharing water resources, 37 nations do not engage in cooperation for the management of water resources.

The first annual High Level Forum on Blue Peace in the Middle East was co-hosted by SFG and MEF University of Istanbul in cooperation with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Political Directorate of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.