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Abstract: Sharing water resources can both facilitate cooperation and aggravate conflict. The earliest civilizations developed along the banks of desert rivers because survival required collective efforts and complex political and legal systems to harness scarce water resources. The inherent tension in developing and sharing a scarce resource like a desert river can be sensed even in our language. The word ‘rival’ comes from the Latin word ‘rivalis’ – meaning people who share a river. Water is thus a fulcrum upon which tilts the balance between cooperation and conflict. Water management not only impacts cooperation and conflict, but also the water essential for a secure society. With too much or too little water, societies confront the insecurities of flooding and drought, with attendant public health and economic impacts. Climate disruption is causing greater water variability, with more intense and frequent droughts and floods in many parts of the world. Water governance is concerned with finding some degree of balance in such a dynamic system. Water security is a balance between the risks and benefits of water management decisions through adaptation to changing conditions. This chapter discusses how water governance impacts security issues and aims to define security as a goal of water policy.
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