event

Water War: How a Life-Sustaining Resource Goes Geopolitical

Tue. March 22nd, 2022
Live online

The climate crisis poses many threats to global security, but among the most urgent is access to a life-sustaining resource: water. From the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam dispute to border skirmishes between India and China, famine in Afghanistan, and political unrest in the United States, Latin America, and North Africa, it is clear that water-related competition only escalates in scale and intensity as climate change further restricts access to this ever-vital resource. What can today’s political leaders do to address conflict and insecurity and prevent catastrophic consequences in our near future? And how can we reverse damage to essential water resources before it is too late?

Join Carnegie for a special event in honor of World Water Day with experts Ellen Hanak, Olivia Lazard, Stewart Patrick, and Zainab Usman in conversation with Tino Cuéllar, on the water crisis and how today’s leaders can deescalate conflict and pursue sustainable solutions for our global future.

Political ReformDemocracyEconomyClimate ChangeSecurityForeign PolicyGlobal GovernanceCivil SocietyNorth AmericaUnited StatesSouth AmericaMiddle EastNorth AfricaLebanonSyriaSouthern, Eastern, and Western AfricaSouth AsiaIndiaAfghanistanPakistanEast AsiaChinaWestern EuropeFrance
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
event speakers

Mariano-Florentino (Tino) Cuéllar

President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Mariano-Florentino (Tino) Cuéllar is the tenth president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. A former justice of the Supreme Court of California, he has served three U.S. presidential administrations at the White House and in federal agencies, and was the Stanley Morrison Professor at Stanford University, where he held appointments in law, political science, and international affairs and led the university’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

Ellen Hanak

Ellen Hanak is vice president and director of the PPIC Water Policy Center and a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, where she holds the Ellen Hanak Chair in Water Policy.

Olivia Lazard

Fellow, Carnegie Europe

Lazard is a fellow at Carnegie Europe. Her research focuses on the geopolitics of climate, the transition ushered by climate change, and the risks of conflict and fragility associated to climate change and environmental collapse.

Stewart Patrick

Senior Fellow and Director, Global Order and Institutions Program

Stewart Patrick is a senior fellow and director of the Global Order and Institutions Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His primary areas of research focus are the shifting foundations of world order, the future of American internationalism, and the requirements for effective multilateral cooperation on transnational challenges.

Zainab Usman

Senior Fellow and Director, Africa Program

Zainab Usman is a senior fellow and inaugural director of the Africa Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. Her fields of expertise include institutions, economic policy, energy policy, and emerging economies in Africa.