Growing water scarcity, an increasing water demand and still insufficient management of the resource provoke a rising competition over its allocation. As technical measures can rarely mobilise significant additional water resources, the political scope of action mainly lies in demand management. This results in sometimes conflictive decisions for or against the promotion of certain economic sectors, regions or population groups. Conflict potentials might escalate, especially if the groups penalised in water allocation are also marginalised socially, economically or politically. Policies of water management are therefore increasingly confronted with questions of distributive justice and political legitimacy.

Especially in countries where water is scarce, water resource allocation often reflects social, political and economic inequities. In times of increased competition over the allocation, interests of political power can easily emphasise these differences and are therefore significantly relevant for the emergence or escalation of conflicts. The intrastate level is specifically affected by this phenomenon as – especially in agrarian countries – influential positions in politics and society are often linked to the access to water. Lucrative export products, for example, can only be produced with sufficient water supply, and investments in the tourism sector are also closely linked to the resource availability. Nevertheless, urban water allocation structures, especially in developing countries, also mirror social disparities, such as those between rich and poor districts. Restrictions in resource availability therefore often have direct social and political consequences, as the hostilities following increases in prices of drinking water services have shown.

Development countries are more affected by the politicisation of the resource competition because of their lower adaptive capacities to the effects of scarcity. The high dependency on water of economic sectors as well as of subsistence farming, lacking social security systems for the population and having deficits in the rule of law, can exacerbate tensions. But water scarce regions of European Mediterranean countries also show increasing conflict potentials as a result of higher competition in resource allocation. One example is the region of Almeria in southern Spain, where rivalry between the interests of the agricultural 2 sector and the tourism industry is extremely high.

Considering the effects of climate change on the resource availability as well as the increasing water demand, competition between users will continue to grow in the near future. These developments urgently require an open debate on intrastate conflict potentials and perspectives of cooperation. Development cooperation faces specific challenges in this regard, as it is involved directly and indirectly in the sector through development projects and policy advice.

In its first part, the present Policy Brief summarises the causes of the emergence of water conflicts and draws the attention to specific challenges for development cooperation. The second part focuses on a typology of possible water conflicts that identifies the main actors and specific solution approaches. The third chapter elaborates policy options for the international development cooperation in order to improve conflict prevention in the water sector.