Water, Not Oil Could Soon Become the World’s Greatest catalyst for Conflict

Water, Not Oil Could Soon Become the World’s Greatest catalyst for Conflict

Writing about the 1967 Six Day War in his 2001 memoirs, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that "While the border disputes between Syria and ourselves were of great significance, the matter of water diversion was a stark issue of life and death."

"People generally regard 5 June 1967 as the day the Six Day War began," Sharon later told the BBC in 2003. "That is the official date. But, in reality, it started two-and-a-half years earlier, on the day Israel decided to act against the diversion of the Jordan [River]."

Throughout history, access to water has spawned and escalated both domestic and international conflicts. In recent decades, population growth and global warming have both played a major role in raising the demand for and availability of potable water. The US government has predicted that by 2015 almost half of the world's population will be "stressed" for water. Water -- rather than oil -- could become the world's next biggest catalyst for conflict.

Read all: [link to oilprice.com]