Water-Related Intrastate Conflict and Cooperation (WARICC): A New Event Dataset Codebook

The WARICC codebook details the construction of a dataset designed to analyze the frequency and intensity of domestic water-related conflict and cooperation. Using BBC Monitoring as its primary source, the project employs an 11-point Water-Events Scale (WES) to categorize events from substantial national improvements (+5) to overt physical violence or national deterioration (-5). The methodology addresses potential data biases related to urban areas, regime types, and extreme events, while providing a comprehensive system of country and actor codes for standardized reporting.

• The dataset focuses on the time-period 1997–2009 and covers all riparian countries of the Mediterranean Sea and all countries in the Sahel.
• The researchers selected BBC Monitoring over Factiva as the primary news source because Factiva produced an unmanageable volume of irrelevant hits and exhibited language bias due to limited translation of foreign-language articles.
• The Water-Events Scale (WES) is an 11-point system where +5 represents substantial national improvements in water quality or quantity, and -5 represents national-level deterioration or physical violence over water resources.
• The methodology identifies three primary sources of potential data error: urban bias (over-reporting of high-density areas), regime type bias (state censorship in non-democratic regimes), and extreme event bias (disproportionate coverage of very large projects or severe conflicts).
• The dataset distinguishes between the source level of action (scale) and the target level of action (impact), ranging from grass-roots individuals (1) to national governments (4).

APA

Bernauer, T., Böhmelt, T., Buhaug, H., Gleditsch, N. P., Tribaldos, T., Weibust, E. B., & Wischnath, G. (n.d.). Water-Related Intrastate Conflict and Cooperation (WARICC): A New Event Dataset Codebook. Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/4a847ac9-c852-4955-8741-e5f601a6626a/WARICC codebook v10.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Bernauer, Thomas, Tobias Böhmelt, Halvard Buhaug, Nils Petter Gleditsch, Theresa Tribaldos, Eivind Berg Weibust, and Gerdis Wischnath. Water-Related Intrastate Conflict and Cooperation (WARICC): A New Event Dataset Codebook. Peace Research Institute Oslo, n.d. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/4a847ac9-c852-4955-8741-e5f601a6626a/WARICC codebook v10.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bernauer |first1=Thomas |last2=Böhmelt |first2=Tobias |last3=Buhaug |first3=Halvard |last4=Gleditsch |first4=Nils Petter |last5=Tribaldos |first5=Theresa |last6=Weibust |first6=Eivind Berg |last7=Wischnath |first7=Gerdis |title=Water-Related Intrastate Conflict and Cooperation (WARICC): A New Event Dataset Codebook |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/4a847ac9-c852-4955-8741-e5f601a6626a/WARICC codebook v10.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bernauerndwaterrelated, author = {Bernauer, Thomas and Böhmelt, Tobias and Buhaug, Halvard and Gleditsch, Nils Petter and Tribaldos, Theresa and Weibust, Eivind Berg and Wischnath, Gerdis}, title = {{Water-Related Intrastate Conflict and Cooperation (WARICC): A New Event Dataset Codebook}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/4a847ac9-c852-4955-8741-e5f601a6626a/WARICC codebook v10.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }