Water as a Tool for Defusing Socio-Political Tension
Water projects can reduce conflict and transcend political enmity. In this report, we identify hotspots in Lebanon with high water-related stress and potential for conflict and recommendations for how to use WASH projects as a tool for peacebuilding
Highlights
The interaction of political tension and conflict on one hand, and water scarcity and stress on the other, is well documented. In Lebanon, political, personal, and sectarian tensions can exacerbate water-related conflict, and water stress and mismanagement can feed into further political and sectarian strife. Oftentimes, however, cooperation over water projects reduces conflict over resources and can transcend political enmity.
However, water projects can also build social cohesion and transcend enmity. UNICEF and local partner LebRelief experienced this in North Lebanon where the rehabilitation of a well in a split sectarian community led to increased community dialogue and a reduction in tension. As a result, an army post was removed, making it easier for children to walk to school. Since then, UNICEF has piloted several other projects to build horizontal social cohesion by leveraging the need for improved WASH services and rebuilding trust between sectarian groups and neighborhoods. UNICEF also supports vertical social cohesion between the water establishments and local population by improving the WASH infrastructure, accountability mechanisms and the communications between service providers and communities.
Building on this, AUB’s Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs (AUB-IFI) and Search for Common Ground (Search), with support from UNICEF, sought to identify hotspots in Lebanon with high water-related stress (in terms of quality and access). Water-related conflict risk, community-level resilience factors, points of division, key influencers, possible champions, and social connectors were also identified. These sources of information were collected in order to propose and prioritize action through water and/or wastewater projects and maximize projects’ potential for peacebuilding and social impact to mitigate future risks and reduce tensions, all in the context of climate change.
