UNU-EHS Challenges and Goals within MICROCON

Unlike the again and again bandied alarmistic scenario of international water wars, experience shows that the danger of violent escalation of water-related conflicts is biggest on the local level.

UNU-EHS' reserach project has pilot character, as it deliberately focus on the micro level and analyses different types of localised water-related violent conflicts, e.g. conflicts between different groups of water users and between water users on the one hand and state authorities and/or private corporations on the other. The regional focus of the project is on the arid and semi-arid regions of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Moreover, it focuses on the subjective dimension of local conflicts, the perceptions, world views, norms and motivations of the people on the ground who are directly involved in the (violent) conduct of conflict.

Cases will be drawn e.g. from conflicts between competing groups of pastoralists, pastoralist-farmer conflicts, conflicts in villages/settlements and conflicts due to (forced) resettlement as a result of large hydropower projects.

Finally, not only cases of violent conduct of conflict shall be included in the project, but also cases in which violence-prone constellations have (so far) not led to violent escalation. An evaluation of such cases might produce valuable insights for conflict prevention and non-violent conflict regulation.

A comparison of ‚positive‘ and ‚negative‘ cases will lead to insights into the pre-conditions for the violent or non-violent conduct of water-related conflicts.