Water and Australia’s Foreign Policy

Submission to the Australian Government’s Foreign Policy White Paper. A Submission prepared for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Many aspects of water resource management, from water pollution to flooding, affect Australia’s national interests through their impacts on our strategic allies, trading partners, and neighbouring countries. But few water-related phenomena are as pervasive and malicious in their impacts as water scarcity and drought.

Key messages:

• Economies and ecosystems across large areas of the planet are threatened by water scarcity.
• Water has long been a feature shaping Australia’s foreign policy and the opportunity to be a leader of improved water resource management has never been more apparent.