As modernization continues to expand across the globe, an increasing number of countries are faced with conflicts over surface water management. My concentration will focus on how newly industrialized countries are experiencing these issues on a much larger scale. Dams, interbasin transfers, irrigation canals, flood control, and reservoir storage are the primary projects causing conflict. The issues are largely social, economic, and ecological. Depending on each situation, the development of a project is authorized and funded by a variety of different local and international individuals, organizations, and governments. These conflicts are especially pertinent within newly industrialized countries, or NICs, because of the sudden demand for more power and agricultural production created by their increasing economies and populations. NICs are defined as, “countries which have made profound structural changes in their economies under conditions of a fast growth rate” (Bozyk 2006). Similar surface water projects are also prominent in developing countries, but newly industrialized countries generally develop with the advantage of simultaneous technological advances (Archibugi 1997). These advancements provide NICs, more so than other countries, with the resources and ability to build varying projects on a much larger scale, in order to support their rapid growth. Some prominent NICs include: India, China, Brazil, and South Africa. All four of these countries have conflicts over surface water projects. These countries are further connected by their “rapid population growth and the strive for economic development [which] has severely stressed natural renewable resources, so much so that fresh water is beginning to have a scarcity value and emotional intensity that exists for fossil fuel” (Swain 2013). Within these countries, the expanding development of surface water projects into more remote areas is specifically impacting rural groups, both upstream and downstream. The costs and benefits of these projects often depend on a group’s location in relation to the project. Rural groups such as farming communities, indigenous peoples, landowners, and fishermen, generally have a much closer proximity to, and therefore are more directly impacted by, surface water projects. For example, when a dam is installed, the groups located nearest the sight are often displaced, while those further downstream receive the benefit of increased agricultural stability. In response to such projects, some believe that the, “mastery of nature may be effective in the short-term in generating rising consumption patters, but also in masking the long-term implications of ecosystem stress” (McMichael 2011). This perspective emphasizes the ecological, social, and economic repercussions surface water projects may create, that are impart due to the rapidly increasing economies and populations of NICs. Another perspective is that through emphasizing and increasing the advantages of these surface water projects, the people within NICs will ultimately benefit. My concentration’s relevance to Environmental studies becomes apparent through several different themes. The Political Economy and Environment theme is closely connected to my concentration partly because of the inclusion of externalities. An externality is defined as: “an unintended consequence of economic activity that affects some third party uninvolved in the business exchange.” Ecosystems and rural peoples, which are impacted within NICs in some cases, can be considered this third party. Natural Resource Extraction is also an important theme because it not only discusses how water is increasingly depended on as a resource, but also how areas where water is utilized are expanding upstream and down. Finally, the theme Environmental Attitudes and Behavior provides important support to my concentration through its evaluations of human reactions to growing resource use, water included. The connection of these themes to various actors and perspectives surrounding surface water conflicts are portrayed in the following examples.
The few surface water conflicts that I will situate around here are examples of the many different types of issues that are arising within NICs. China’s rapidly growing economy and population has generated environmental repercussions, which are now, “exacting [their] own toll on the Chinese people, impinging on continued economic development, forcing large-scale migration, and inflicting significant harm on the public’s health” (Economy 2010). Pollution, damming, and scarcity are the main factors contributing to surface water management conflicts here. The ability of outside powers, such as large electricity corporations, to influence the development of surface water projects especially impacts different rural groups. The degree to which rural groups are involved in the decision making process regarding a surface water project often largely determines the amount of social conflict. The Xingu river basin in Brazil is inhabited by many indigenous peoples whose “historical management and use of these landscapes have enabled their long-term occupation and ultimately their protection” (Schwartzman 2013). Despite their coexistence with the land, these indigenous peoples will need to utilize “bottom-up forms of governance to gain recognition…of these territories” (Schwartzman 2013). Without these strategies, the landscapes in which they reside will become significantly altered by large-scale surface water projects, making displacement and cultural destruction increasingly difficult to avoid (Schwartzman 2013). In India, cultural and social impacts are present due to the large-scale surface water project “interlink[ing] its rivers” (Mirza 2012). This interlinking would provide advantages because of the ability to transfer water. A few examples are increased irrigation, flood control, a larger fresh water supply, and energy production. However, by changing the flows of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers, there would be social, economic, and ecological consequences (Mirza 2012). This situation is also a pertinent example because of the adverse ecological and social effects the surface water project would have on Nepal and Bhutan. The development of this project and others throughout the world ultimately emphasizes that non-NIC countries can also be impacted greatly, both positively and negatively (Mirza 2012). Furthermore, India is an interesting NIC to analyze based on its historical problems with water scarcity. “Due to spatial and temporal variability in precipitation the country faces the problem of flood and drought syndrome. Over-exploitation of groundwater is leading to reduction of low flows in the rivers” (Kumar 2005). India, as well as China and South Africa, experience problems with natural drought and rapidly growing populations, which make them good examples of how surface water projects become especially indispensable to rural groups surviving on an overused resource (Mehta 2001). Ultimately, there are complex impacts produced by surface water projects within newly industrialized countries, emphasized by their developing conflicts both within and outside of their own boarders.
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