Water, Security and U.S. Foreign Policy

The prosperity and national security of the United States depend directly on the prosperity and stability of both partner and competing countries around the world. Today, U.S. interests are under rising pressure from water scarcity, extreme weather events and water-driven ecological change in key geographies of strategic interest to the U.S. Those water-driven stresses are undermining economic productivity, weakening governance systems and fraying social cohesion in scores of countries and, in the process, undermining the vitality of rural livelihoods, fostering local and ethnic conflicts, driving broad migratory movements and contributing to the growth of insurgencies and terrorist networks. While the U.S. intelligence community has steadily expanded natural resource concerns in their global threat analyses, our overseas development assistance remains locked into provision of water and hygienic services rather than responding to the full sweep of global water challenges including governance and policy failures, growing conflicts over water and the need for promoting sustainable transboundary water arrangements in partner countries. A fundamental departure from the past is urgently needed. Based on 18 case studies, Water, Security and U.S. Foreign Policy provides an analytical framework to help policy makers, scholars and researchers studying the intersection of U.S. foreign policy with the environment and sustainability issues, interpret the impacts of water-driven social disruptions on the stability of partner governments and U.S. interests abroad. The book also delivers specific recommendations to reorient U.S. development and diplomatic engagements that can forestall and prevent social disruptions and ensuing threats to U.S. prosperity and national security.

Table of Contents:
Foreword: General James L. Jones Part I: In Search of a Mission 1. In Search of a Mission David Reed PartII: Conflict and Climate Change Framing Note: The Social Dimensions of Water David Reed 2. Development and Diplomacy: Water, the SDGs, and U.S. Foreign Policy Erika Weinthal, Farah F. Hegazi, and Lesha Witmer 3. Climate Variability, Water, and Security in El Salvador Herman Rosa 4. Panama: Water Security and Social Conflict in the Climate Change Era Ariel Cuschnir 5. Mexico’s Pursuit of Water Security Román Gómez González Cosío 6. Who Stole the Water: Water, Security, and U.S. Foreign Policy in Guatemala Eduardo Stein with Lilian Marquez 7. Water Stress, Instability, and Violent Extremism in Nigeria Marcus King 8. Water Resources, Climate Change, and the Destabilization of Modern Mesopotamia Peter Gleick 9. Iran's Impending Water Crisis David Michel 10. Dammed If You Do and Damned If You Don't: Afghanistan's Water Woes Glen Hearns 11. Winter is Coming: U.S. Strategic Interests and the Water-Energy-Agriculture Conundrum in Central Asia Richard Paisley 12. The Perils of Denial: Challenges for a Water-Secure Pakistan Ali Sayed, Chelsea N. Spangler, and Faizan Usman 13. Water Scarcity and Regional Security in India Cecilia Tortajada, Udisha Saklani, and Asit K. Biswas 14. Water-Energy Nexus in the Himalayas Keith Schneider 15. A Perfect Storm in the Greater Mekong Subregion: Climate-Change Impacts on Food, Water, and Energy Arjun Thapan 16. Building Resilience for Peace: Water, Security, and Strategic Interests in Mindanao, Philippines Roger-Mark De Souza Part III: Financing Water Infrastructure Framing Note: Persistent Challenges Patrick Coady 17. Helping Weak Water Utilities Climb the Financial Ladder Aldo Baietti 18. Financing Water and Sewer Infrastructure in the Developing World William Streeter 19. A New Chapter in Developing Water Infrastructure Marc Jeuland Part IV: New Challenges, New Directions 20. Paths of Influence David Reed 21. Recommendations for Water, Security, and U.S. Foreign Policy David Reed

About the Author :
David Reed is Senior Policy Advisor for WWF-US.

Review :
'This impressive volume brings together many of the world's leading thinkers and practitioners on global water policy. The chapters survey the water and governance challenges in a number of important countries and regions. The contributors grapple with the complexity of how problems related to water potentially create security concerns for the United States and what, if anything, the U.S. government can do to help others and thereby help itself.' - Joshua Busby, Associate Professor of Public Affairs at the University of Texas-Austin and author of Water and U.S. National Security (Council on Foreign Relations 2017) 'Climate change has driven home what we should have known for a long time: water is the root of much of the world's instability and conflict. And there is no one better than David Reed to apply his enormous experience across a score of regions. His careful book drives home a second truth we should have known: water is the problem but mismanagment is the curse. Accordingly, he provides a framework for critical shift in policy, from providing water to managing watershed, almost always involving more than one country.' - Greg Treverton, former chair of the U.S. National Intelligence Council