Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
governing water use in the Nile Basin. In his book
Resource Wars , however, Michael Klare (2002:
159) argues that as water scarcity becomes an
issue of national security in the coming decades,
the threat of military conflicts, or so-called water
wars, could become a reality.
So what does the case of water use in the Nile
Basin tell us about the nature of human-resource
relations? At one level, the example of the Nile
Basin appears to lend itself very easily to a
Malthusian interpretation. As population growth
outstrips the supply of resources such as food and
water, society will be subjected to severe limits to
its development and conflicts over such scarce
resources may well ensue. The fact that population
has continued to grow so rapidly in the Nile Basin,
however, suggests that there might be merit in the
cornucopian perspective. In this context it could
be argued that population growth, and the pressure
to withdraw more water from the Nile river system,
has led to the development of technological
solutions, including the construction of dams and
innovative irrigation schemes that have enabled
continued economic growth in the region. A
Marxist perspective would, however, cast critical
doubt on the nature of water scarcity in the Nile
Basin and the ability of technological solutions
to solve these problems. In the first instance, a
Marxist analysis would explore the uneven
distribution of water - both between states and
different social classes - in the region. On these
terms, Marxists may well point out that when there
are droughts in the Nile Basin, it is the poor and
not the wealthy that experience water scarcity and
thirst. In the second instance, a Marxist perspective
would question whether the building of dams and
new irrigation systems in the Nile Basin is really
solving water scarcity issues, and suggest that such
initiatives may well be about securing water for the
most powerful states (such as Egypt) and social
groups (such as wealthy landowners).
However you wish to interpret water scarcity
issues in the Nile Basin, it is clear that the region
is an important place to consider the processes that
are defining the Anthropocene. The Nile Basin
reflects two key features of the Anthropocene: 1)
it is a place that is defined by the problems associ-
ated with the accelerated extraction of resources
from the natural environment; and 2) it is a place
where humans are trying to exert increasing
technological control over the natural world
(through the building of dams and irrigation
systems). As we will see throughout the chapters
of this volume, by considering the Anthropocene
in places such as the Nile Basin it becomes possible
to better understand the complex economic and
political forces that shape human relations with the
environment.
2.5 CONCLUSIONS
In this chapter we have considered changing
patterns of resource use within the Anthropocene.
Across a range of different sectors (including
mineral fuels, metallic and non-metallic minerals,
and water) we have observed patterns of acceler-
ating use and consumption. While such patterns
of resource use have not always led to scarcity,
the extraction and use of these resource has had
significant impacts on the environment: from the
local problems of water pollution associated with
gold mining, to the issues of global warming that
have been caused by the burning of fossil fuels.
Following our analysis of the changing patterns of
resource use, this chapter has established a series
of frameworks within which it is possible to
interpret human-resource relations: Malthusian,
cornucopian, peakist and Marxist. While contem-
porary policy-makers tend to favour market-based
cornucopian understandings of human-resource
relations, this chapter has shown that the use
and relative scarcity of resources are complex
issues that defy simplistic forms of analysis. A
complex mix of availability, technology, political
and economic power, market investments and
exchange, and changing patters of consumption
come together to determine resource use and
scarcity. This chapter concluded by considering
water scarcity and conflict in the Nile Basin. The
case study helped to illustrate that when it comes
 
 
 
Search WWH ::




Custom Search