Advertisement
Access to clean drinking water is only part of the problem. Without water, farmers can't produce crops, which leads to food insecurity. Water scarcity also limits people's ability to carry out basic sanitary habits, thus speeding the spread of illness and disease.These conditions make communities vulnerable—especially to extremist groups. By either providing water access or holding it hostage, militants like Al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula (AQAP), the Sunni extremist group's arm in Yemen, and ISIS take advantage of the shortage to buy the population's gratitude or exert control.Yemen is a prime example of the ways in which water scarcity enables extremists. One of the Middle East's poorest countries, Yemen's water scarcity is correlated to its conflict, said Marcus King, Director of the Master of Arts in International Affairs at George Washington University's Elliot School of International Affairs, in an interview with VICE.READ: A Severe Lack of Clean Water Is Killing Indigenous Children in ColombiaYemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi's government recently cut the country's National Water Resources Authority budget by 70 percent. Hadi fled the country in February after ongoing conflict with the Houthis, a group of Shia rebels who had, among other grievances, voiced complaints about the unequal distribution of water.Sana'a, Yemen, may become the world's first capital to drain its water supply.
Advertisement
Advertisement
"[ISIS] had the potential to destroy the dam and cause widespread destruction," explained Emma Ashford, a visiting fellow in defense and foreign policy at the Cato Institute. "It's very hard to prevent groups from seizing control of resources, and once they control them, they decide what happens to them."Yet Michel says that water has yet to provide ISIS any real state-like legitimacy. "I don't know of any evidence that suggests that ISIS is a more competent municipal service provider than the Syrian or Iraqi states that they have replaced," he says.Ashford says it's important to improve the provision of resources in water scarce countries that aren't already actively engaged in war. For countries like Yemen and Syria, where conflict has escalated, "There's really too much going on to deal with [water insecurity].""If you can't breathe, then water's not your issue." —Edward Saltzberg
Advertisement