Water Politics: Between Desertification and Securitization - Time for a Blue Diplomacy

Keys points

The EESC:

• considers that water is increasingly understood as a strategic security asset due to growing global water scarcity. The EU should step up its efforts on blue diplomacy and streamline it in its foreign policy and external relations, trade and development policies.

• underlines that water is not a mere commodity but a public good crucial to human life. The EU should support easy and uninterrupted access of affordable water for everyone throughout the world and facilitate sustainable water and wastewater management.

• asks for the protection of wetlands and biodiversity as an essential part of blue diplomacy. The sustainable management of South-Eastern European transboundary rivers, lakes and wetlands should acquire priority given their high significance for European biodiversity.

• encourages the establishment of a macro-regional strategy for the Mediterranean region. Such a strategy would contribute to better coherence and to the integration of frameworks and programmes already in place and lead to more rationality in the use of resources.

• proposes to pay special attention to blue diplomacy in sub-Saharan Africa. Proactive tools should reduce water-crisis induced migration flows to the European Union.

• calls for the right funding to improve existing water facilities and infrastructure to ensure fair access to clean water and sanitation for the entire global population. The Global Gateway constitutes an excellent tool in this context.