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Title
UNDP - Water Scarcity Challenges in the Middle
East and North Africa (MENA)
Abstract
Water is scarce in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. As Allan (2002) noted,
the region basically “ran out of water in the 70s” and today depends as much on water from
outside the region -- in the form of its food imports, for example -- as on its own renewable
water resources. Continued water scarcities will affect the region’s social and economic
potential, increase land vulnerability to salinization and desertification and raise the risk for
political conflict around the limited water available.
Groundwater is a hidden problem, since many countries extract more than is being recharged.
This puts the region’s irrigated agriculture at risk and leads to saltwater intrusion in aquifers
close to the seas. Weak environmental legislation leads to groundwater pollution, which
further decreases groundwater quality throughout the region. In some cases, laws do not
contain specific rules on solid wastes, hazardous chemicals, etc. A disproportionately large
share of available freshwater is used in irrigated agriculture, but it is accompanied by an
intensive use of fertilizers which also contributes to the water quality degradation through
pollution and salinization. The Jordan River, for example, is in poor shape due to overuse of
the upper Jordan by Israel and overuse of its tributary, the Yarmouk River, by Syria and
Jordan. There is a great need for improved water resources governance, as well as improved
water efficiency and productivity in irrigated agriculture.
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