Tobias von Lossow is a Research Affiliate in the Water Governance Department at IHE Delft. His research, lecturing and advisory activities focus on the political, hydrological and socio-economic dimensions and dynamics of water scarcity, water (and) security, water conflict and cooperation, and water during violent conflict and war. In this context he has worked on water governance, management and negotiations at the transboundary level as well as the national and local level with a particular regional focus on the Middle East and Africa. He has published extensively on the weaponisation of water, water as a recruitment tool, and water supplies and governance during violent conflict and war. He has also worked on the role of gender in inter-state water relations and conflicts.
Tobias von Lossow is also a Research Fellow at ‘Clingendael – the Netherlands Institute of international affairs’ and member in international and national expert groups on water security, water cooperation and climate security advising and coaching diplomats, political decision-makers and practitioners on the above mentioned topics their political implications.
Tobias von Lossow is a Lecturer at the Freie Universität Berlin (GER), Philipps-Universität Marburg (GER) and Leiden University (NED).
Prior to joining IHE Delft and Clingendael, he worked ten years for the German Institute for International and Security Affairs/Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) in Berlin. Tobias von Lossow holds a master’s degree in Political Science from the Free University Berlin.
Selected publications:
Water crises – water opportunities: Promoting water cooperation in the Middle East, Clingendael Report, September 2023 (with A. Houdret)
Key Insights into the Nova Kakhovka Dam Destruction: An Initial Analysis, WPS blog, June 2023 (with S. Schmeier)
Water Governance in Iraq: Enabling a Gamechanger, WPS-Clingendael Report, September 2022 (co-authored)
In the shadows - Gender in Transboundary Water Policies, in: J. Sehring/R. ter Horst/M. Zwarteveen (eds.), Gender Dynamics in Transboundary Water Governance, London: Routledge, July 2022, pp. 108-126
Water, Climate, and Environment: Beyond Iraq’s obvious conflicts, in: Ecosystem for Peace - A compendium of ideas, January 2022 (co-authored)
Water in the Middle East: Hotspots of Scarcity and Conflict, in: E. Ehlers/K. Amirpur (eds.), Middle East and North Africa. Climate, Culture, and Conflicts, Leiden: Brill, January 2021, pp. 191-212
Managing abundance: CICOS and the Congo, in: A. Kittikhoun/S. Schmeier (eds.), River Basin Organizations in Water Diplomacy, Routledge, November 2020, pp. 163-178
Weaponizing Water in the Middle East: ‘Lessons Learned’ from IS, in: M. King (ed.), Water and Conflict in the Middle East, Hurst Publishers, October 2020, pp. 151-170
Less and Less: Water in the Middle East, in: Ensuring Water Security in the Middle East: Policy Implications, EuroMeSCo/IEMed, April 2020, pp. 34-55
Nile Conflict: Compensation Rather Than Mediation, SWP Comment 2020/C11, March 2020, 4 Pages
The Role of Water in the Syrian and Iraqi Civil Wars, in: MENA’s Fertile Crescent in the Time of Dry Geopolitics, ISPI, February 2020
Bis zum letzten Tropfen, in: Wasser, Edition LE MONDE diplomatique N° 26, October 2019, p. 22-25
More than infrastructures: water challenges in Iraq, Policy Brief, Clingendael & PSI, July 2018, 11 pages
The River Congo – Africa’s Sleeping Giant. Regional Integration and Intersectoral Conflicts in the Congo Basin”, SWP Comments 2017/C 46, November 2017, 7 pages
Wasser als Waffe: Der IS zwischen Kriegsverbrechen und staatlichen Dienstleistungen, in: Hans-Georg Erhart (ed.): Krieg im 21. Jahrhundert. Konzepte, Akteure, Herausforderungen, Baden-Baden: Nomos 2017 (Demokratie, Sicherheit, Frieden, Vol. 220), pp. 163-184
The multiple crisis. Perspectives on water scarcity in the Euphrates and Tigris basin, in: ORIENT, Vol. 58 (2017), No. 1, pp. 45-53
The Rebirth of Water as a Weapon: IS in Syria and Iraq, in: The International Spectator, Vol. 51 (2016), No. 3, pp. 82-99
Water as Weapon: IS on the Euphrates and Tigris. The Systematic Instrumentalisation of Water Entails Conflicting IS Objectives, SWP Comments 2016/C 03, January 2016, 8 pages
Egypt’s Nile Water Policy under Sisi. Security Interests Promote Rapprochement with Ethiopia, SWP Comments 2015/C 11, February 2015, 4 pages (with S. Roll)