Oil Today, Water Tomorrow

Another troubling sign of the growing scarcity of water in China and India. Unfortunately, I expect water disputes between the two burgeoning nations to escalate over the coming years. Water's economic and political importance is only increasing and I fear that it will become the source of conflict around the world much as oil is today.

Asia.view | Himalayan grumbling | Economist.com: "In a similar vein, China has been obstinate in dealing with the two countries’ shared water concerns. India fears China’s rumoured plans to divert the course of the Brahmaputra, one of several rivers that rise in Tibet and cascade down into South Asia. In an important thawing in their relations, in 2005 the two countries agreed to form a joint committee of experts to co-operate on this issue. It has not been formed, for which China is mostly to blame."