This book proposes practical and objective solutions to the entrenched water conflicts in the Middle East. The author reveals and clarifies the complexity of the water conflicts, drawing on years of experience facilitating and chairing water negotiations in the region.The bottom line is: Unless the countries involved co-operate, the consequences will be devastating. The lack of plentiful and clean water for the people will not only result in severe human suffering, but could also have grave geopolitical consequences.
The book covers four critical areas:
- the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, where new documentation reveals alarming trends,
- the politically sensitive Golan Heights, with its water disputed by Israel and Syria,
- the Hasbani water dispute between Lebanon and Israel,
- the longstanding water resource dispute between the Israelis and Palestinians.
Dr. Jon Martin Trondalen has chaired multilateral negotiations on water disputes in the Middle East; assisted governments and the United Nations in resolving environmental and water resource disputes; and trained diplomats and technical delegates in enhancing negotiation skills. He was granted Special Fellow status by the UN several times for work on international environmental conflict resolution and preventive diplomacy and action.
He has worked for the Norwegian Church Aid and the World Bank, as well as with the Norwegian Research Council, and has spent 13 years at the University of Oslo as full professor in resource geography. He is founding director of CESAR Foundation (Oslo), Compass Foundation (Geneva), and one of the founders of the International Water Academy.