Water Security, Conflicts and Hydrodiplomacy

Abstract

Water is crucial for human survival, productive processes, and the ecosystem. It constitutes between 50 and 90 per cent of the structure of all living organisms. Owing to its appearance from outer space, the Earth is called ‘the blue planet’, given that 70 per cent of its surface is covered by water, although hydrologic resources only represent 0.07 per cent of its mass and 0.4 per cent of its volume (Oswald, 1999: 41). Likewise, 2.5 per cent of this natural wealth is fresh water, that is to say 35 million cubic kilometres, of which 67.9 per cent is located in glaciers and permanent ice; 0.8 per cent is permafrost; 30.1 per cent corresponds to aquifers; 0.05 per cent is soil humidity; 0.03 per cent wetlands; 0.26 per cent lakes; 0.006 per cent rivers; 0.0003 per cent is biological water; and 0.04 per cent is found in the atmosphere (Shiklomanov et al., 2005).