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Water: Asia's New Battleground
The battles of yesterday were fought over land. Those of today are over energy. But the battles of tomorrow may be over water. Nowhere is that danger greater than in water-distressed Asia.
Water stress is set to become Asia's defining crisis of the twenty-first century, creating obstacles to continued rapid economic growth, stoking interstate tensions over shared resources, exacerbating long-time territorial disputes, and imposing further hardships on the poor. Asia is home to many of the world's great rivers and lakes, but its huge population and exploding economic and agricultural demand for water make it the most water-scarce continent on a per capita basis. Many of Asia's water sources cross national boundaries, and as less and less water is available, international tensions will rise. The potential for conflict is further underscored by China's unrivaled global status as the source of transboundary river flows to the largest number of countries, ranging from India and Vietnam to Russia and Kazakhstan; yet a fast-rising China has declined to enter into water-sharing or cooperative treaties with these states, even as it taps the resources of international rivers.
"Water: Asia's New Battleground" is a pioneering study of Asia's murky water politics and the relationships between freshwater, peace, and security. In this unique and highly readable book, Brahma Chellaney expertly paints a larger picture of water across Asia, highlights the security implications of resource-linked territorial disputes, and proposes real strategies to avoid conflict and more equitably share Asia's water resources.
Water stress is set to become Asia's defining crisis of the twenty-first century, creating obstacles to continued rapid economic growth, stoking interstate tensions over shared resources, exacerbating long-time territorial disputes, and imposing further hardships on the poor. Asia is home to many of the world's great rivers and lakes, but its huge population and exploding economic and agricultural demand for water make it the most water-scarce continent on a per capita basis. Many of Asia's water sources cross national boundaries, and as less and less water is available, international tensions will rise. The potential for conflict is further underscored by China's unrivaled global status as the source of transboundary river flows to the largest number of countries, ranging from India and Vietnam to Russia and Kazakhstan; yet a fast-rising China has declined to enter into water-sharing or cooperative treaties with these states, even as it taps the resources of international rivers.
"Water: Asia's New Battleground" is a pioneering study of Asia's murky water politics and the relationships between freshwater, peace, and security. In this unique and highly readable book, Brahma Chellaney expertly paints a larger picture of water across Asia, highlights the security implications of resource-linked territorial disputes, and proposes real strategies to avoid conflict and more equitably share Asia's water resources.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 12, 2012
Brahma Chellaney's new book offers an indepth analysis of the water geopolitics in Greater Asia, extending from Japan all the way to Turkey and including the entire Middle East. This is the first book that comprehensively examines the water geopolitics on the world's driest continent, Asia. The water crisis holds important implications for Asia's ability to continue to be the locomotive of the world economy. Thus, the book is an important contribution to the literature and is likely to be of particular interest to investors, especially because it details the economic and political implications of the spreading water shortages.
The strength of the book is that its various chapters are thematically focused, rather than discussing countries or subregions. Although such a framework is more challenging, it allows the author to keep the focus on the larger issues in Asia and to comparatively assess opportunities of cooperation and risks of conflict. What emerges is that water disputes are concentrated in four separate circles-China and its neighbors; India and its neighbors; Israel and its neighbors; and Turkey and its neighbors-plus in Central Asia and the Arabian Peninsula. Intrastate disputes are more widespread, with the book providing a good picture of such disputes within South Korea and China in particular.
The book is sympathetic to the plight of countries, like Bangladesh, Vietnam and Iraq, which are located farthest downstream on rivers flowing through multiple countries. The book masterfully blends water issues and geopolitics to highlight water resource scarcity as a burning issue. The analysis is objective and perceptive. The book's only drawback is its length: it is virtually the size of two average-size books and, therefore, has been printed in small typescript.
The strength of the book is that its various chapters are thematically focused, rather than discussing countries or subregions. Although such a framework is more challenging, it allows the author to keep the focus on the larger issues in Asia and to comparatively assess opportunities of cooperation and risks of conflict. What emerges is that water disputes are concentrated in four separate circles-China and its neighbors; India and its neighbors; Israel and its neighbors; and Turkey and its neighbors-plus in Central Asia and the Arabian Peninsula. Intrastate disputes are more widespread, with the book providing a good picture of such disputes within South Korea and China in particular.
The book is sympathetic to the plight of countries, like Bangladesh, Vietnam and Iraq, which are located farthest downstream on rivers flowing through multiple countries. The book masterfully blends water issues and geopolitics to highlight water resource scarcity as a burning issue. The analysis is objective and perceptive. The book's only drawback is its length: it is virtually the size of two average-size books and, therefore, has been printed in small typescript.
October 23, 2020
The book and especially the topic addressed is of great relevance and opens up new opportunities to understand politics in Asia.
The author Brahma Chellaney has a deep understanding of water and politics about water, water scarcity, unequal access, damage to nature and challenges for nations and people. While the author's expertise represents a range of areas, it sometimes leads to a very academic text. Coupled with constant repetition of facts, it is sometimes tedious and tiring to struggle through the individual chapters.
This is a shame because the content and the topic is incredibly exciting. In terms of content, the book deserves 3 or even 4 stars, but I only gave 2 stars. It can be incredibly repetitive and lengthy and the focus is exclusively on India and China, too little on the other smaller countries and their importance. The meager 3 pages on Bhutan make this particularly clear. I would have liked a larger comparison to Tibet as a water reservoir and its role in Asia. As it states in the beginning of the book, it is about the new battleground in Asia, not only in India and China.
The author Brahma Chellaney has a deep understanding of water and politics about water, water scarcity, unequal access, damage to nature and challenges for nations and people. While the author's expertise represents a range of areas, it sometimes leads to a very academic text. Coupled with constant repetition of facts, it is sometimes tedious and tiring to struggle through the individual chapters.
This is a shame because the content and the topic is incredibly exciting. In terms of content, the book deserves 3 or even 4 stars, but I only gave 2 stars. It can be incredibly repetitive and lengthy and the focus is exclusively on India and China, too little on the other smaller countries and their importance. The meager 3 pages on Bhutan make this particularly clear. I would have liked a larger comparison to Tibet as a water reservoir and its role in Asia. As it states in the beginning of the book, it is about the new battleground in Asia, not only in India and China.
May 6, 2021
Insightful book. But the writing leaves a lot to be desired. A spatial analysis would have worked better than the thematic approach the author took which bears little relevance to the topic. China takes a lion's share in the book, this gets annoying when China is mentioned every 20-30 pages. Water conflicts in Maldives, East Asia and especially Middle East barely gets mentioned. Would have been better if the book was exclusively based on Tibetan basin. A good read if this book is still the only on the topic
October 10, 2013
This is an ambitious, nay, overly ambitious book. Brahma Chellaney covers inter- and intra-state water conflicts across Asia (including the Middle East!)
Riverine issues have interested me since I traveled along the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra River in Tibet and India. No wonder why Tibet matters so much to China: by controlling Tibet, China controls the headwaters of the great rivers of Asia. Chellaney devotes a whole chapter to the Tibetan Plateau. Sadly, but in time-honored Indian fashion, India ceded its advantages to India.
The maps in this book are not particularly useful and illustrative of the text.
Water: Asia's New Battleground won the 2012 Asia Society Bernard Schwartz Book Award.
Riverine issues have interested me since I traveled along the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra River in Tibet and India. No wonder why Tibet matters so much to China: by controlling Tibet, China controls the headwaters of the great rivers of Asia. Chellaney devotes a whole chapter to the Tibetan Plateau. Sadly, but in time-honored Indian fashion, India ceded its advantages to India.
The maps in this book are not particularly useful and illustrative of the text.
Water: Asia's New Battleground won the 2012 Asia Society Bernard Schwartz Book Award.
March 17, 2015
A truly groundbreaking book -- the first of its kind to look at Asian water issues comprehensively.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews