The impact of effective diplomacy on the process of regional water cooperation between Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey

Everywhere, all over the world, and without exception, water is considered a valuable natural resource that has been the reason for and continues to create competition and tension between human communities and countries. The majority of conflicts which have arisen between countries because of water have revolved around shared watersheds, and so far it has proved difficult to find a reasonable mechanism for the equitable distribution of these finite resources. Given the strategic and vital role of water and its unequal distribution in different parts of the world, in addition to the many basins and water resources shared between countries, the need for pragmatic diplomacy is an inescapable fact. Iraq has long had disagreements with its neighbours over the sharing of common border waters and transboundary rivers, which makes the reliance on diplomacy more important than ever before, as well as giving the whole matter greater attention.