Violence Over Water is on the Rise Globally. A Record Number of Conflicts Erupted in 2023

In Pakistan, two groups of farmers started arguing in the fields and attacked each other with axes, clubs and bricks in a bloody fight over water. In South Africa, hundreds of people protesting a water shortage blocked roads with burning tires and hurled rocks at police. In Ukraine, Russian attacks on infrastructure left a city of nearly 1 million people without water.

These are some of the 347 water-related conflicts that researchers have documented during 2023, a year that saw violence over water increase dramatically worldwide. The number of incidents reached a new record last year, far surpassing the 231 conflicts recorded in 2022 and continuing a rising trend that has persisted over the last decade.