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In focus: The geopolitics of water

April 21, 2022

Without water there is no life. Due to climate change, water is increasingly becoming a precious and contested commodity.

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Symbolbild | Wasseroberfläche
Image: Zoonar/picture alliance

Whether it's a dispute over dams, polluted water from the extraction of raw materials or from industry and agriculture - the lack of water and the handling of this vital resource is increasingly in the spotlight in the age of the climate crisis.

Jinghong Hydropower Station on the Lancang River, China
Image: Yang Zheng/Imaginechina/picture alliance

Sharing cross-border water resources: Cooperation or conflict?  

 

 

Lesotho's deal with water

 

View of an abandoned boat at the dried Aculeo Lake in Paine, about 70 km southwest of Santiago, Chile
Image: Martin Bernetti/AFP/Getty Images

The mystery of a disappearing lake and the struggle over water rights in Chile

 

San Jose, Costa Rica
Image: Linda Vierecke/DW

Working together for precious water in Costa Rica

 

A man in a long robe stands in a gently rolling field in Syria full of withered olive trees
Image: Daniela Sala/DW

Conflict and climate change drive water crisis in Syria 

 

Agriculture suffers from drought in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq
Image: Daniela Sala

Tensions rise as Iranian dams cut off Iraqi water supplies

 

Pastor turning rain into drinking water

 

Two women carry drinking water on their heads in India
Image: picture-alliance/NurPhoto/R- Shukla

Tackling the growing threat of water conflict 

 

A man stands in the shadows underneath a tree and types into his mobile phone in India
Image: Manish Mehta/DW

India's water wizards quench thirst of parched communities

 

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