Pooling resources for peace

The view from the Swiss hotel where I found myself this winter was wet indeed. Both the falling rain and the sight of Lake Leman a few meters away focused attention on the theme of the meeting that brought me there: water. Invited by the Strategic Foresight Group of Mumbai, India, to take part in their initiative on water security in the Middle East, I attended two workshops convened in February in Montreux: the first on Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Turkey, and the second on the Jordan Valley countries. Supported by the Swiss and Swedish governments, the aim was to find sustainable collaborative solutions to the problem of water security, by using water as an instrument of regional peace. Delivering the event’s keynote speech, Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan stressed the need for a regional water community. He called for a supra-national entity, such as the coal and steel