David Katz
David Katz is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Haifa. He specializes in environmental and natural resource policy. His work has focused on transboundary environmental and resource management and politics, policy incentives for resource conservation, the relation between economic development and resource consumption, and non-market valuation of ecosystem services.
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is likely to reduce the potential for conflict, though it may also create new conflicts, for instance, over water of marginal quality or over issues of equity. Its effect on cooperation is even more ambiguous, as it both offers parties more flexibility, which is likely to increase cooperation, but can be implemented unilaterally, which may reduce the need for cooperation. The little empirical work that has been published investigating these impacts has been largely based on anecdotal evidence or individual case studies. This paper presents a more systematic look at these impacts, using a mixed-method (quantitative and qualitative) analysis of interstate interactions before and after the adoption of large-scale seawater desalination. The results support the contention that while desalination has the potential to reduce conflict and increase cooperation, the impact of desalination on hydropolitics cannot be assumed a priori. Rather, it is largely context-dependent, and as such, it should not be viewed as a technological fix for transboundary water relations.
is likely to reduce the potential for conflict, though it may also create new conflicts, for instance, over water of marginal quality or over issues of equity. Its effect on cooperation is even more ambiguous, as
it both offers parties more flexibility, which is likely to increase cooperation, but can be implemented unilaterally, which may reduce the need for cooperation. The little empirical work that has been published investigating these impacts has been largely based on anecdotal evidence or individual case studies. This paper presents a more systematic look at these impacts, using a mixed-method (quantitative and qualitative) analysis of interstate interactions before and after the adoption of large-scale seawater desalination. The results support the contention that while desalination has the potential to reduce conflict and increase cooperation, the impact of desalination on hydropolitics cannot be assumed a priori. Rather, it is largely context-dependent, and as such, it should not be viewed as a technological fix for transboundary water relations.
Access to clean water is one of the first things in which developing country governments invest as their income grows. At a household level as well, access to clean running water is a basic resource that is a priority for most households, so much so, that many pay a high share of their overall disposable income for water supply. In fact, the poor often pay more both in relative and absolute terms for their water supply than richer consumers.
At a household level, water demand tends to be inelastic and to grow along with growth in income, albeit at a declining rate. At the macro or national level, relations are more complex. Some of the literature that has tended to look at water consumption as a function of income has found it follows an inverse U-shaped curve, also known as an Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC), in which consumption initially growth with respect to income, but later declines. Several explanations have been offered for such a phenomenon. Some have suggested that water is a basic need and water conservation as a luxury good, only demanded and affordable by the rich. Others have suggested structural changes in economies are responsible, whereby growing economies shift from water intensive agriculture and industry to less water intensive sectors such as services. Consumption of “virtual water”, water embedded in crops and other products, may also contribute.
Evidence on the EKC relationship, is not consistent across sectors or geographical areas, and often varies depending on estimation methods, however. As such it is not particularly useful for forecasting future demand.
Many studies have also looked at the relation between economic growth and water quality, with several, again proposing an EKC type relationship. These studies often used some of the same rationale as with the case of water consumption, e.g., environmental quality as a luxury good affordable at only higher levels of income or shifts in patterns of productions in which highly polluting industries decline in richer areas and grow in poorer ones (the so-called “pollution haven” hypothesis). Here too, the evidence is inconsistent and a poor predictor of actual conditions.
In short, the review of the literature indicates that the relation between income and economic growth on the one hand and water use and quality on the other, is too complex to be reduced to simple correlations, whether they be positive, negative, or the slightly more nuanced EKCs. It appears to be dependent on a large range of variables and is not easily generalizable.
transboundary water conflicts by increasing the quantity of available water (thereby alleviating scarcity), and
also by reducing variability and uncertainty regarding the timing, location, and quality of water supplies. Of less
focus has been the potential for the introduction of desalination to affect efforts at hydrodiplomacy, by, for
instance, shifting international negotiating positions, strategies and outcomes. Desalination allows for countries
to be more flexible in their negotiating positions, however, it also changes the set of alternatives to negotiations
and can reduce incentives for cooperation. Moreover, while desalination has much potential to reduce interstate
conflict over shared water resources, it can also introduce new disputes, for instance, by generating demand for
previously unusable waters. This article provides an overview of the potential and actual impacts of desalination
on international hydrodiplomacy, and provides case studies of how desalination can introduce new issues of
concern over previously uncontentious waters.
hydropolitical relations in the Jordan River basin through issue
linkage. The initiative would develop desalination capacity along the
Mediterranean to supply water to Jordan, with Jordan generating
and distributing solar energy to Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Such a project could provide a range of economic, environmental
and geopolitical benefits to the parties involved, though it would also
increase national dependencies on critical resources, which may be
a serious impediment to adoption. Still, such mutual dependencies
may be preferable to the current unilateral and asymmetric relations.
is likely to reduce the potential for conflict, though it may also create new conflicts, for instance, over water of marginal quality or over issues of equity. Its effect on cooperation is even more ambiguous, as it both offers parties more flexibility, which is likely to increase cooperation, but can be implemented unilaterally, which may reduce the need for cooperation. The little empirical work that has been published investigating these impacts has been largely based on anecdotal evidence or individual case studies. This paper presents a more systematic look at these impacts, using a mixed-method (quantitative and qualitative) analysis of interstate interactions before and after the adoption of large-scale seawater desalination. The results support the contention that while desalination has the potential to reduce conflict and increase cooperation, the impact of desalination on hydropolitics cannot be assumed a priori. Rather, it is largely context-dependent, and as such, it should not be viewed as a technological fix for transboundary water relations.
is likely to reduce the potential for conflict, though it may also create new conflicts, for instance, over water of marginal quality or over issues of equity. Its effect on cooperation is even more ambiguous, as
it both offers parties more flexibility, which is likely to increase cooperation, but can be implemented unilaterally, which may reduce the need for cooperation. The little empirical work that has been published investigating these impacts has been largely based on anecdotal evidence or individual case studies. This paper presents a more systematic look at these impacts, using a mixed-method (quantitative and qualitative) analysis of interstate interactions before and after the adoption of large-scale seawater desalination. The results support the contention that while desalination has the potential to reduce conflict and increase cooperation, the impact of desalination on hydropolitics cannot be assumed a priori. Rather, it is largely context-dependent, and as such, it should not be viewed as a technological fix for transboundary water relations.
Access to clean water is one of the first things in which developing country governments invest as their income grows. At a household level as well, access to clean running water is a basic resource that is a priority for most households, so much so, that many pay a high share of their overall disposable income for water supply. In fact, the poor often pay more both in relative and absolute terms for their water supply than richer consumers.
At a household level, water demand tends to be inelastic and to grow along with growth in income, albeit at a declining rate. At the macro or national level, relations are more complex. Some of the literature that has tended to look at water consumption as a function of income has found it follows an inverse U-shaped curve, also known as an Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC), in which consumption initially growth with respect to income, but later declines. Several explanations have been offered for such a phenomenon. Some have suggested that water is a basic need and water conservation as a luxury good, only demanded and affordable by the rich. Others have suggested structural changes in economies are responsible, whereby growing economies shift from water intensive agriculture and industry to less water intensive sectors such as services. Consumption of “virtual water”, water embedded in crops and other products, may also contribute.
Evidence on the EKC relationship, is not consistent across sectors or geographical areas, and often varies depending on estimation methods, however. As such it is not particularly useful for forecasting future demand.
Many studies have also looked at the relation between economic growth and water quality, with several, again proposing an EKC type relationship. These studies often used some of the same rationale as with the case of water consumption, e.g., environmental quality as a luxury good affordable at only higher levels of income or shifts in patterns of productions in which highly polluting industries decline in richer areas and grow in poorer ones (the so-called “pollution haven” hypothesis). Here too, the evidence is inconsistent and a poor predictor of actual conditions.
In short, the review of the literature indicates that the relation between income and economic growth on the one hand and water use and quality on the other, is too complex to be reduced to simple correlations, whether they be positive, negative, or the slightly more nuanced EKCs. It appears to be dependent on a large range of variables and is not easily generalizable.
transboundary water conflicts by increasing the quantity of available water (thereby alleviating scarcity), and
also by reducing variability and uncertainty regarding the timing, location, and quality of water supplies. Of less
focus has been the potential for the introduction of desalination to affect efforts at hydrodiplomacy, by, for
instance, shifting international negotiating positions, strategies and outcomes. Desalination allows for countries
to be more flexible in their negotiating positions, however, it also changes the set of alternatives to negotiations
and can reduce incentives for cooperation. Moreover, while desalination has much potential to reduce interstate
conflict over shared water resources, it can also introduce new disputes, for instance, by generating demand for
previously unusable waters. This article provides an overview of the potential and actual impacts of desalination
on international hydrodiplomacy, and provides case studies of how desalination can introduce new issues of
concern over previously uncontentious waters.
hydropolitical relations in the Jordan River basin through issue
linkage. The initiative would develop desalination capacity along the
Mediterranean to supply water to Jordan, with Jordan generating
and distributing solar energy to Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Such a project could provide a range of economic, environmental
and geopolitical benefits to the parties involved, though it would also
increase national dependencies on critical resources, which may be
a serious impediment to adoption. Still, such mutual dependencies
may be preferable to the current unilateral and asymmetric relations.