ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN MIDDLE
EAST AND NORTH AFRICA (MENA)
WATER SCARCITY – BY SHREYUS CHHABRA
TOTAL PAGES – 10 (INCLUDING REFERENCES AND APPENDIX)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
S.NO. TOPIC
1. PREFACE INTROUDCTION TO MENA AND ITS PROBLEMS
2. CHAPTER 1 WATER CRISIS AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
3. CHAPTER 2 IMPROVEMENTS AND SOLUTIONS
4. ENDING CONLUSION + REFERENCES + APPENDIX
In this paper we will discuss the main problem, which is being faced by the Mena Region, that is Water
scarcity. Through this paper I would also like to entail some solutions to this problem and how we can
prevent it from happening further. In chapter 1 we will discuss the major current problems related to
water scarcity in the MENA region and in chapter 2 we will discuss some of the solutions for the same.
The following part is the Preface where we will discuss a brief overview about all the problems
currently being faced by the MENA region.
INTRODUCTION TO MENA AND ITS PROBLEMS
MENA – the Middle East and Northern Africa is sometimes called “the Arab World” or the “Greater
Middle East”. The region is generally considered to be comprised of twenty-one countries, covering an
area of some fourteen million square kilometers and home to 571.6 million people, as of 2018. This
constitutes some 8% of the world’s population, roughly comparable to the percentage of Europeans.
Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Algeria, and Sudan make up 60% of MENA’s population.
Despite their heterogeneous characteristics in geography, natural resources, political and social
structures, and income levels, MENA countries share a common context of critical environmental
challenges and different boundary conflicts that threaten the long-term stability of the region.
‘Studying the environment in the Middle East is an opportunity to reflect on the region’s capacity to
maintain economic growth and meet the security expectations of 500 million people. “The Middle East
deserves attention because of threats to water, land, food, and population. It has been argued that the
environment is an object to be secured and a source of security risk informed by who and what ” (Barnet
2013, 191).
The MENA region already faces a wide array of environmental stresses that include water scarcity, arable
land depletion, air pollution, inadequate waste management, loss of biodiversity, declining marine
resources and degradation of coastal ecosystems. Future development scenarios are expected to worsen
these scenarios and problems, especially given that MENA is one of the regions that is most vulnerable to
the impacts of climate change (IPCC, 2013). Rising temperatures, heightened rainfall variability and rising
sea levels (Hungate and Koch 2015), in addition to increasing population and urban growth rates, will
amplify environmental stresses.
CHAPTER 1 – WATER CRISIS AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
WHAT IS WATER SCARCITY?
Different terms exist to refer to the lack of water or water shortages experienced at different scales (eg
household, community, city, country or region), and over different timescales (eg temporary due to
conflict or long-term due to climate change). ‘Water scarcity’ refers to the yearly amount of renewable
freshwater per capita (in m3) within a country territory. Different levels have been identified:
1,700m3/capita/year being regarded as ‘water stressed’, 1,000m3 as ‘high scarcity’, and 500m3 ‘extreme
scarcity’.
However, it can be easy to misinterpret these terms outside a given geographic and socio-economic
setting. Water is never scarce in absolute terms, but it is perceived as scarce under specific allocative and
institutional circumstances (Ioris 2012). In fact, nearly all major cities produce a sufficient volume of
potable water to meet more than satisfactory human health and sanitation needs.
Water scarcity goes beyond a sole physical insufficiency of resources: it is also a product of uneven social
distribution and unsustainable management practices (Swyngedouw 2006). Scarcity of water actually
results from a combination of physical, institutional and technical factors:
Physical scarcity in availability of freshwater of acceptable quality with respect to aggregated
demand, in the simple case of physical water shortage.
Scarcity in access to water services, because of the failure of institutions in place to ensure a
reliable supply of water to users, or to the inability of households to afford a connection/the
costs of water.
Scarcity due to the lack of adequate infrastructure (irrespective of the level of water resources)
due to financial constraints. In the last two cases, countries may be unable to capture and
distribute resources due to limited financial resources, to a lack of institutional willingness or to a
lack of capacity to maintain and manage them appropriately.
WATER SCARCITY IN THE MENA REGION
Water has always been a source of risks and opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa. Yet
rapidly changing socioeconomic, political, and environmental conditions make water security a different,
and more urgent, challenge than ever before. Water scarcity in MENA involves multiple factors such as
climate change leading to droughts and floods, low water quality, and poor water management in the
context of fragility, conflict, and violence. This is one of the reasons why at the World Economic Forum
2015, experts on the MENA region stated that the water crisis is “the greatest threat to the region—
greater even than political instability or unemployment”.
The MENA region is the most water-scarce in the world, with an average renewable internal freshwater
resource per capita of 444 cubic meters (calculated for all designated MENA countries, Food and
Agriculture Organization [FAO], 2018), well below the UN water scarcity limit of 1,000 cubic meters per
person per year (FAO, 2007). The semi-arid and arid countries are characterized by highly variable
rainfalls. Most of the blue water resources (surface water and groundwater) are shared between several
countries located along the Euphrates, Tigris and Nile rivers. Renewable water resources vary between
MENA countries: Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are highly dependent on non- conventional
water resources such as desalination of seawater, producing 60 % of the world’s desalinated water.
Many of its aquifers (An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock, rock fractures
or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt) Groundwater can be extracted using a water well) are at
high risk of becoming depleted. Sixty percent of its water originates outside of the region, and most
countries share aquifers and surface water with their neighbors. Yet there are very few transboundary
agreements on the use and management of shared water. The problem is made more serious by
population increase, policies that subsidize the cost of water rather than encouraging efficient use, and a
warming and drying climate. Pollution threatens water quality and human health, most seriously in the
occupied Gaza Strip.
CAUSES AND MULTIPLE CONSEQUENCES
Due to population growth rates, rapid urbanization, improved standards of living and increased frequency
of droughts in recent decades, water demand has been increasing rapidly, surpassing the region’s supply
capacity. Indeed, in addition to overexploiting groundwater resources, the growing demand for water has
resulted in degrading water quality.
Poor water quality in the region is caused by unsustainable water consumption, pollution and untreated
wastewater. The cost of these in the region represents 0.5-2.5% of the GDP annually. This causes multiple
problems, ranging from waterborne diseases to the pollution of fresh water necessary for ecosystem
services such as fisheries. For this reason, according to the International Union for Conservation of
Nature, 17% of freshwater species in the region are on the brink of extinction (Doris koehn, 20011)
Considering that 86 % of MENA's annual freshwater withdrawals are allocated to the agriculture sector
(FAO, 2016), the lack of water available for irrigation poses a serious threat to the region’s food security.
MENA’s average water use efficiency in irrigation is only 50 to 60 percent, compared to best-practice
examples of above 80 percent efficiency under similar climate conditions in Australia and southwest US.
Similarly, physical water losses in municipal and industrial supplies in the region are way above world
averages. Nonrevenue water* is 30 to 50 percent in some cities, compared to global best practice of
approximately 10 percent.
* “Nonrevenue water (NRW) is water that has been produced and is "lost" before it reaches the
customer. Losses can be real losses (through leaks, sometimes also referred to as physical losses) or
apparent losses (for example through theft or metering inaccuracies)”.
Moreover, the Global Environmental Outlook (GEO)-6 (2016) reports that climate change projections on
temperatures, precipitation patterns and sea levels predict a further decrease of water availability in the
region, combined with growing demand for water.
Risks to populations Continuous or persistent deterioration of water-supply mechanisms expose
populations to health risks. Extreme cases of cumulative impacts have resulted in disease outbreaks.
These can be caused by factors ranging from repeated attacks on treatment plants to the need for a
population to rely on water resources of which the quality is not monitored. Yemen has suffered from
multiple cholera outbreaks since the start of the conflicts. Many people without access to water have
become reliant on wells they have dug themselves and from which they extract polluted water. The
multitude of impacts, their interconnectedness, and accumulation over time give complex challenges to
utilities. Responses often occur as a direct reaction to visible impacts, rather than in addressing root
causes of the issues.
DISPUTES AND CONFLICTS OVER WATER IN THE MENA REGION
Disputes over water itself has been the cause of many tensions and inequalities in the region. Disputes
over transboundary sources have arisen between countries where one side or the other has been
accused of taking ‘more than their fair share’ by their neighbours (Greenwood 2014: 154). Important
inequalities within countries have also created tensions, where wealthy users have enjoyed the cleanest
and cheapest water, whilst the poor have often lived in polluted areas where water is often both more
expensive and of poor quality (Devlin 2014; Tropp and Jagerskog 2006).
Many countries in the MENA region are dependent on water resources that lie beyond their borders. For
example, Syria, Jordan and Palestine rely on trans-boundary water resources. Palestine is almost entirely
dependent on water essentially controlled by Israel. The trans-boundary nature of the water resources in
the Middle East makes cooperative management of these resources critical as they have the potential to
induce economic and social development and reduce the risks of conflict.
Forecasts indicate that water will be the source of next wars and Israel will win the fight against
Palestinians over common water sources in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (Asser 2010). The
relationship between Israel and Jordan will be affected by the appropriation of water from the Jordan
River and the frictions from the Red-Dead project. Environmental threats emerge from geographical and
climate conditions, as well as ignorance of know-how economic development, population size, industrial
pollution, and habitat loss. Water shortage is a regional problem and conflict over water may arise from
interdependency, overexploitation, pollution, gap between supply and demand, expanding populations
and water management.
After addressing the problems, we can see that a lot of in-humane things are going on in the Mena
region, but it’s not all bad, in the coming part of this paper we will look at the possible solutions and what
the ‘United Nations’ is doing to make amendments to this problem and how it is providing fresh water to
the people in the Mena Region.
CHAPTER 2 – IMPROVEMENTS AND SOLUTIONS
FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANISATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS (FAO)
‘FAO’s Water scarcity regional initiative (WSI) supports countries in the region to strategically plan their
water resource management and allocation, review their water, food security and energy policies,
formulate effective investment plans, modernize governance and institutions, account for transboundary
surface and ground water and adopt good agricultural practices.
One FAO’s project in Yemen is helping farmers take advantage of dam water to improve sustainability
and give women more opportunities to participate in decision-making processes. FAO has been
supporting the establishment and reorganization of more than 35 Water User Associations in the capital
Sanaa to better regulate water consumption, helping them with funding, equipment. In the process,
these associations provide space for new thinking like resolving tribal disputes over water.
The Sanaa Basin Project is an example of how FAO supports different types of activities – aimed not only
at meeting the immediate food and nutrition needs of millions of Yemenis, but also facilitating projects
that can positively impact the restoration of the country’s overall agriculture infrastructure.
Another FAO project in the west bank and the Gaza strip focused on supporting efficient irrigation
systems and addressed poor management and inefficient use of water resources by repairing damaged
irrigation systems. This has improved access to clean water for irrigation and put an end to social conflicts
over water usage.
FAO’s project rehabilitated more than 30 water conveyance systems in the West Bank, improving the
efficiency of almost 150 kilometers of water piping for domestic and agricultural use. As a result, farmers
once again could access sufficient water, ensuring equitable distribution. Water loss through leakages
was eliminated and the use of untreated wastewater for irrigation purposes was curbed.
The project has enabled around 200 farming families in An-Nassariyeh to increase their production, cut
costs and avoid using unsafe contaminated water. In addition to mitigating social, economic and
environmental impacts on communities, the pipe rehabilitation work led to the creation of seasonal jobs
for at least 2,000 agricultural workers in the West Bank.’ (FAO, UN)
SOME BASIC SOLUTIONS FOR SOLVING THE WATER CRISIS IN THE MENA REGION
1. Removing salt from the sea
A popular way to supplement the insufficient water supply is to separate salt from seawater in a process
called Desalination. MENA accounts for nearly half the world's desalination capacity, according to World
Bank calculations, making it the largest desalination market in the world. Desalination is practiced in 150
countries worldwide and the International Desalination Association (IDA) estimates that more than 300
million people around the world depend on desalinated water for some or all of their daily needs.
2. Unsustainable consumption
Unsustainable water use occurs in areas where water is taken from rivers and underground layers of rock
saturated with water, known as aquifers, at a rate faster than it is replenished by rain, according to the
World Bank report.
Some would argue there is a problem with this solution as when one draws down more water than is
replenished then one begins to degrade the aquifer itself, one can harm the ecosystems that are
dependent and can disrupt the economic production and household welfare.
To provide an answer to this problem; it is possible that after a year of very strong rains, those aquifers
could be restored.
According to the World Bank, unsustainable use of groundwater occurs across the Arabian Peninsula, the
Maghreb and in Iran. But some countries in the Mena region have become incredibly resourceful in
producing their own water.
3. Helictical Management of eco – systems
Simply put, holistic management applies to a practical, common-sense approach to overseeing natural
resources that takes into account economic, cultural, and ecological goals. In essence, the whole is
greater than the sum of its parts, and each facet is related to and influences the others. Good examples
of holistic management are communities that operate sewage treatment plants while pursuing
partnerships with clean energy producers to use wastewater to fertilize algae and other biofuel crops.
The crops, in turn, soak up nutrients and purify wastewater, significantly reducing pumping and
treatment costs.
SOLUTIONS FOR DISPUTES AND CONFLICTS OVER WATER
Where conflicts begin to dissipate, the restoration of basic water and sanitation services should become a
priority. In the recovery phase, water for agriculture is important as it provides for people’s livelihoods.
Addressing water and fragility challenges requires combining an immediate response to people’s basic
needs with a long-term approach aimed at building resilience to shocks and protracted crises. The latter
should rely on sustainable, efficient and equitable water resources management and service delivery.
“More importantly, working together within countries and across boundaries is essential. Collective
action and partnerships are essential given the scale and commonality of the challenges, the relatively
small size of many of the countries in the region and the transboundary nature of important issues like
climate change and shared water resources.
There’s a strong need to move beyond the traditional sector-specific conventional approach to managing
water, for instance by fostering innovation and entrepreneurship that contribute with their services and
products to increasing sustainability in water management.”
Investment in innovative policies and practices is also pivotal as research, technology development and
transfer can provide further improvements to water efficiency and crop productivity in the region. It can
also greatly increase the resilience of rainfed agricultural systems, for instance by promoting land
conservation and reclamation practices.
CONCLUSION
In recollection, droughts, famine, and social and political conflict over water bring attention to
environmental problems in the Middle East. Environmental issues are interlinked with social and political
struggles at the state and regional level. Water and food security are areas in which countries have
common interests. Conflict arises between water and food secure countries (Saudi Arabia) and water and
food insecure countries (Yemen). The Middle East is still consumed by sectarian and religious divisions
and global powers continue to shape and influence friendly and hostile relations.
Water security is one of the areas in which the possibility for governance of the common good is
immediate. Common ground is usually found after a rearrangement of interests and loyalties. Rich
countries like Qatar demonstrate a disposition to find, design, and implement security agreements in the
environmental sector. High population growth rate, poor water management and conservation
strategies, over pumping and overconsumption, lack of critical research, lack of regulations on the use of
water from aquifers, and practices of resource capture are common practices influencing the security of
the environment.
Water remains one of the resources with which to exploit power and alliances. On societal awareness of
water management, more is to be learned about water – conservation and its advantages. People need
to love and respect the environment in which we live in or one day we will lose it all.
References
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 2021. Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations. [online] Available at: < http://www.fao.org/home/en/ > [Accessed 19 April
2021].
Ipcc.ch. 2021. IPCC — Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. [online] Available at:<
https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1/ > [Accessed 19 April 2021].
Loan Diep, Tim Hayward, Anna Walnycki, Marwan Husseiki and Linus Karlsson (iied), 2017; Water,
crises and conflict in MENA: how can water service providers improve their resilience?
UNEP - UN Environment Programme. 2021. Global Environment Outlook. [online] Available at: <
https://www.unep.org/global-environment-outlook > [Accessed 19 April 2021].
Levitt, Joshua. 2020. ‘Water: Conflict and Cooperation in Israel’s Jordan River Valley’. The
Algemeiner, March 2020.
Asser, 2010; Climate change causing political instability in the Middle East region: A critical analysis.
Mepc.org. 2021. Homepage | Middle East Policy Council. [online] Available at:< https://mepc.org/ >
[Accessed 19 April 2021].
Doris Koehn, “Water and Environment for the Middle East and North Africa” (presentation at the
sixth joint Middle East Institute and World Bank Annual Conference, Washington, DC, May 15, 2001).
Prb.org. 2021. PRB Discuss Online: Africa’s Demographic Challenges – Population Reference Bureau.
[online] Available at: < https://www.prb.org/africa-demographic-challenges/ > [Accessed 20 April
2021]
Appendix
1. Population Growth and Fresh Water in Middle East and North Africa (MENA REGION)
Population (millions)
202 % of Population Living in Urban Annual Renew- able Fresh
1970 2001 5 Areas, 2001 Water (km2)b
173.
MENA 4 385.6 568 59 632.3
Algeria 13.8 31 43.2 49 14.3
Bahrain 0.2 0.7 1 88 0.1
Egypt 35.3 69.8 96.2 43 86.8
Iran 28.8 66.1 88.4 64 137.5
Iraq 9.4 23.6 40.3 68 96.4
Israel 3 6.4 8.9 91 2.2
Jordan 1.6 5.2 8.7 79 0.9
Kuwait 0.7 2.3 4.2 100 0.02
Lebanon 2.5 4.3 5.4 88 4.8
Libya 2 5.2 8.3 86 0.6
Morocco 15.3 29.2 40.5 55 30
Oman 0.7 2.4 4.9 71 1.0
Qatar 0.1 0.6 0.8 91 0.1
Saudi Arabia 5.7 21.1 40.9 83 2.4
Syria 6.3 17.1 27.1 50 46.1
Tunisia 5.1 9.7 12.5 62 4.1
Turkey 35.3 66.3 85.2 66 200.7
United Arab
Emirates 0.2 3.3 4.5 84 0.2
Yemen 6.3 18 39.6 26 4.1
2. Access to fresh water and Adequate Sanitation available for people in MENA Region
% of Population With Access to Safe % of Population With Access to Adequate
Water Sanitation
Total Urban Rural Total Urban
MENAa 84 93 79 86 95
Algeria 89 94 82 92 99
Bahrain – – – – –
Egypt 97 99 96 98 100
Iran 92 98 83 83 86
Iraq 85 96 48 79 93
Israel – – – – –
Jordan 96 100 84 99 100
Kuwait – – – – –
Lebanon 100 100 100 99 100
Libya 72 72 68 97 97
Morocco 80 98 56 68 86
Oman 41 30 92 98 61
Qatar – – – – –
Saudi Arabia 95 100 64 100 100
Syria 80 94 64 90 98
Tunisia 80 92 58 84 96
Turkey 82 82 84 91 98
United Arab
Emirates – – – – –
Yemen 69 74 68 38 89
Source – Population reference bureau
