Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Historically, water management was confined to civil engineering and local governance. However, in the contemporary era, water has undergone securitisation. The volatility of water supply, characterised by both acute scarcity and catastrophic abundance, now functions as a fundamental driver of systemic risk. This paper explores the nexus between hydrological stability and the maintenance of international peace and security, and argues that as the global hydrological cycle undergoes unprecedented disruption from anthropogenic climate change and demographic expansion, this nexus is being strained. Water has transitioned from a resource management challenge to a primary global security imperative. This paper analyses the ‘threat multiplier’ effect of water scarcity or abundance, its impact on transboundary geopolitics, and the necessity of integrated hydro-solidarity. The paper thus argues that traditional Westphalian approaches to water sovereignty are insufficient to address the current crisis and proposes a multi-scalar framework for collective action grounded in data transparency, benefit-sharing, and institutional resilience.
Author: NOSAKHARE UGBO
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7127058842
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