In search of water, forced to flee


March 9, 2011

Erol Kekic, Director of the CWS Immigration and Refugee Program. Photo: CWS

Erol Kekic, Director of the CWS Immigration and Refugee Program. Photo: CWS

CWS Director of Immigration and Refugee Programs Erol Kekic explains how people are increasingly forced to move because of a lack of water.

Do people really become refugees because they don’t have access to water?

Many people are forced to abandon their traditional habitats because of the lack of drinking water.  Due to the climate change and decrease in arable land, large groups of people have no other choice but to move their families and their livestock in search for water.

Two years ago, as a direct consequence of the prolonged draught, a group of Masai left their traditional highlands of Kenya and moved to Nairobi together with their cows.  They became internally displaced persons – refugees in their own country – and no services were available to them in the urban environment.

Moreover, the conflict in Darfur can be seen through the prism of the competition for resources – in this case water and arable land.  When resources are scarce, conflict erupts over access to resources and displacement follows.  Once people cross an international border, they become refugees.

Is this a growing problem?

Unfortunately, this is a problem that will not go away.

With the accelerated climate change, significant portions of land in Africa are turning into desert, forcing traditional farmers to migrate towards big cities, contributing further to increased urbanization and extending poverty, while reducing overall food production.  Unless significant changes are implemented globally, the phenomenon will continue to displace populations.

Why aren’t wells and similar solutions the answer?

Wells and boreholes are temporary solutions and depend on preexistence of subterranean water.  Furthermore, they carry substantial cost and require maintenance, both of which are usually difficult to secure.

What’s the CWS approach to working with people who are forced to move because they don’t have access to water?

CWS operates the Durable Solutions for Displaced Persons program, which aims to find intermediary measures to assist those forcibly displaced until a more sustainable solution is found.  The UN Refugee agency identifies three durable solutions for refugees: helping them return to their home country, helping them become settled in the country where they initially landed, or helping them find a home in a completely new nation.  CWS is involved in all three with different populations.

What does the future hold?

CWS will continue to work on several fronts to address this issue.

We will work with direct programs, offering solutions where appropriate and possible and also on the advocacy front, attempting to keep this important issue on the top of the agenda for the U.S. government and the international community at large.  It appears that because of the water scarcity, entire nations and ethnic groups are forced to find alternative places to live and work.  These movements impact not just the groups that are forced to move, but also the rest of the world, as less food is produced increasing the number of hungry and malnourished.

The best solution is a concerted effort to stabilize the communities by offering intermediate solutions, while advocating to change the political will to deal with climate change globally.