Water in dispute in MENA and Asia: hydropolitics, inequality, and forced displacement

Résumé

Climate change, intensified by the predatory logic of the Anthropocene, has placed water at the center of contemporary disputes. More than a vital resource, water becomes a strategic asset embedded in power relations between states, corporations, and vulnerable communities. This article argues that hydropolitics—understood as the field of tensions, negotiations, and confrontations around water control—reveals how climate change translates into social, humanitarian, and geopolitical crises. Through cases from MENA and Asia, it examines how large infrastructure projects, exclusionary policies, and unequal access to water generate forced displacement and reproduce environmental injustices. By articulating hydropolitics, environmental justice, and climate migration, the study highlights the urgent need to rethink water governance models and design policies that integrate sustainability, equity, and human rights.