Agriculture and International Water Conflict in Asia: An Analysis Based on Remote Sensing Data

Agriculture is the largest water user worldwide, the water it consumes is far more than other kinds of water consumption. Although the potential role of agriculture in international water conflict can be inferred from the existing literature, few research have comprehensively investigated it. The main reason is the scarcity of agricultural land data for each country within shared river basins. This study fills this gap by creatively using remotely sensed data, and empirically examines the impact of agriculture on conflicts over international river basins from 2001 to 2007 in Asia. We calculate the area of agricultural land for each country within specific international river basins based on Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land cover data and Transboundary Freshwater Spatial Database (TFSD). The results testify to the role of agriculture in international water conflict.