Geostrategist Brahma Chellaney examines the profound impact of the growing worldwide water crunch on international peace and security, as well as possible ways to mitigate the crisis. Although water is essential to sustaining life and livelihoods, Chellaney argues that it remains the globe's most under appreciated and undervalued resource. One sobering fact is that the retail price of bottled water is already higher than the international spot price of crude oil. But unlike oil, water has no substitute, raising the specter of water becoming the next flashpoint for conflict.

Chellaney will be in conversation with William M. Harris Jr., of the Department of Environmental Science and Studies at University of St. Thomas.