The geopolitical role of water: Rome, the capital of blue diplomacy

For four days, Rome will be the meeting point for Europe, Africa and the Middle East on one of the most crucial issues of recent years: water. From 29 September to 2 October, the capital will host the Euro-Mediterranean Water Forum, which is expected to welcome delegations from 40 countries in the Mediterranean region, the Balkans, North Africa, the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula. Explaining the context of the initiative is Maria Spena, president of the One Water Italy Committee. ‘We are facing clear signs of climate change that require immediate responses to extreme events such as droughts and floods,’ she explained. One Water, together with the Union for the Mediterranean and the Mediterranean Water Institute, is organising the event in partnership with the Arab Water Council and various United Nations agencies. Also involved are the CIHEAM in Bari, numerous Italian ministries, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Universities, the Municipality of Rome, the Lazio Region, the State-Regions Conference, sector organisations and representatives of civil society.

The scope of the discussion is wide-ranging. Topics to be covered include water resources, risk prevention and management, the relationship between water and energy, food and the environment, as well as the role of the space economy in water management. The programme also includes the ninth edition of the Utilitalia Water Festival and the Seawater Summit, featuring CEOs and institutional leaders from across the sector.

But it is above all the Mediterranean dimension that makes the water issue a geopolitical one. The basin is home to over 500 million people, and around 70 per cent of them live on the southern and eastern shores, between North Africa and the Middle East. ‘Demographic projections’, explains Spena, ‘indicate that by 2050 the Mediterranean’s population could exceed 630 million people, and a considerable proportion of this growth will be concentrated precisely in those areas’. This represents a radical shift from the demographic distribution of the past, bearing in mind that in the 1960s, the countries that now belong to the European Union accounted for around 64 per cent of the population in the region. It is clear, therefore, that the stability of the near future hinges on water – not only in the context of climate change, but also and above all because, whilst ensuring a reliable water supply for populations is essential, without efficient water networks it is difficult to sustain agriculture, urbanisation and demographic stability. There is, in fact, a correlation between climate crises and large-scale migration. Water is certainly not the sole cause of migration, but its scarcity can become one of the factors contributing to the instability of entire regions.

The issue has already been incorporated into Italy’s international cooperation efforts – one need only think of the Water Coalition, established during the Italian G7 presidency, or the water-related component of the Mattei Plan. ‘It is here,’ Spena points out, ‘that so-called “blue diplomacy” comes into play: the starting point is that water can also be a tool for cooperation between states. The Mediterranean is set to face pressure on its resources and a need for new investment: the challenge will be to transform this cooperation into infrastructure and management systems capable of functioning in the long term’.