Water resources: the flow of peace

• Grant number: 13/09546-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: October 20, 2013
• End date: February 19, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences - Physical Geography
• Principal Investigator: Luis Antonio Bittar Venturi
• Grantee: Luis Antonio Bittar Venturi
• Host Investigator: Keith S. Richards
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Cambridge, England

Abstract

This study aims to corroborate the conclusions of a previous research in which we refuted the "water war" hypothesis by two main arguments. Firstly, we have shown that treaties have been assuring stable peace among countries that share river basins, illustrating with the Euphrates river context. Secondly, we have proposed that technology can reverse the natural water scarcity by water production as it is largely made in the Persian Gulf countries. Now, we aim, on one side, to get data from downstream Euphrates river to strengthen the conclusions we generated studying upstream and, on the other side, update data of water production in the Persian Gulf countries. Depending on the results of this second objective we will propose a complete conceptual revision on water as a natural resource. In other words, if water production can make countries totally independent from ground sources, this natural resource could be considered merely renewable no longer. (AU)