ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- An international conference on the growing problem of global desertification has ended with hopes that new technologies may help poorer nations better manage their water resources.
Rivers often cross international boundaries, and that calls for regional and international solutions, said Dennis Engi, manager of strategic initiatives at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque. Turkey, for example, is building dams that would also affect water supplies in Syria and Iraq downstream, said Engi.
"If either of those two countries are unhappy, obviously there's going to be some political conflict," Engi said. "We have the necessary technologies to get a better handle on the available water. With our technology, they (the Turks) can simply play out the different water resource management strategies on a computer."
Israel has some water conflicts with the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well, he said.
One reason for the three-day International Drylands Conference in Albuquerque was to let Sandia help form partnerships among countries and get some projects rolling. The workshop brought environmental researchers from around the world to discuss political problems caused by drylands.
Mary Morris, an independent Middle East consultant from Los Angeles, said some of the governments most affected by the problem have been unwilling to fund the necessary research. She said many of them don't realize their national security could be imperiled.
"Once you get countries thinking about environmental problems as a security threat, then you get the money to solve the problems," she said.
Some of the ideas discussed here will be presented at a conference in Rome in October focusing on a United Nations treaty to halt desertification -- the spread of the world's deserts.
The Convention to Combat Desertification, which took effect last December, is aimed at fighting destruction of valuable agricultural land. That agreement stems from the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It gives priority to Africa, where desertification has had the greatest impact.
The world's drylands make up about 40 percent of Earth's land surface. "The expansion of drylands and deserts can lead to loss of farmlands, mass migrations, and loss of economic activities," said Engi. "Problems like these can lead to conflict."
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