Hydro Diplomacy: From Conflict to Cooperation

Water is a vital and irreplaceable material. Climate changes, population increase and life style changes have leaded to the increase of water demands. At the time being, the situation of water resources in all over the world is critical. However, some regions such as the Middle East and the south of Africa are more vulnerable. Hydro politics is a young knowledge which deals with the examination of water resources and finding solutions for water crisis. Since the solving of water problems is difficult for individual states, bilateral and multilateral cooperation seems inevitable. Accordingly states have to pursue active and dynamic foreign policy to overcome the challenges. Virtual water is one of the methods for managing the water problems in arid and semiarid regions. Virtual water means the smart import of water dependent food or goods according to relative advantage. Accordingly two strategies have been mentioned: 1) import of water dependent goods and 2) production of water dependent goods in watery regions with the common investment of arid and semiarid countries. The present paper is an endeavor to submit practical solutions for overcoming the water crisis in our country.