CIAO DATE: 04/2010
December 2009
Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre
Water issues play a crucial role in Central-South Asia, both in the quantity of water available and its quality. Access to clean drinking water is a major, though largely unmet, objective. While much of the region is experiencing water shortages, poor water management lies at the heart of many problems. Climate change - in the form of glacier melt, drought, rising temperatures, and changes to the monsoon cycle - will increasingly exacerbate water scarcity. Although the region's water challenges do not necessarily or inevitably lead to armed conflict, they increasingly threaten to undermine human security. Cooperation will be critical for the region to meet its water challenges in the years and decades ahead.
Resource link: Water challenges in Central-South Asia [PDF] - 1.8M