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Page added on December 7, 2013
Arab Water Crisis to Affect Human Development
The Arab world is facing an escalating water crisis that demands quick answers in order to avoid major humanitarian consequences, a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) report warned this week.
The report, entitled Water Governance in the Arab Region: Managing Scarcity and Securing the Future, revealed that out of a total of 22 countries, 15 regional states fall into the “water poor” category, while the situation in seven other states is described as “deteriorating.”
The Middle East and North Africa accounts for 10 percent of the world’s landmass and is home to 5 percent of the world’s population, but has less than one percent of global water resources. An average Arab citizen has eight times less access to renewable water than citizens of other parts of the world, the report said.
“Urbanization and population growth are straining already scarce resources. The population of Arab countries, estimated at 360 million, is expected to reach around 634 million by 2050,” the report warned.
“The gap between water supply and demand, estimated at more than 43 cubic kilometers a year in 2009, is expected to reach 127 cubic kilometers a year by 2020–2050,” the report added.
“Water challenges can and must be addressed if the Arab region is to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, attain shared prosperity, and reach a future of sustainable human development. Addressing water challenges now can also help strengthen resilience by managing the risk of potential crises that could result from inaction: such as unplanned migration, economic collapse or regional conflict,” Sima Bahous, the assistant administrator of the UNDP, said in the report’s foreward.
“Resolving the crisis will require enduring progress towards political, social, economic and administrative systems that shape the use, development and management of water resources and water delivery in a more effective, strategic, sustainable and equitable direction,” she added.
The UN report, commissioned by the UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Arab States, affirms that while water scarcity is the primary reason for the crisis, an absence of good governance has only served to exacerbate the problem. The report confirmed that major challenges include fragmented institutions with unclear and overlapping responsibilities, insufficient funding, centralized decision-making and ineffective enforcement.
The report overview concludes: “To succeed, any long-term vision for water governance requires a solid understanding of the social and cultural changes brought by modernization. As lifestyles evolve with rising education levels, accelerating urbanization and ongoing political and social reform, governance must evolve in tandem. Arab countries must also prepare for the impacts of climate change on water resource planning and augment their adaptive capacity.”
9 Comments on "Arab Water Crisis to Affect Human Development"
Kenz300 on Sat, 7th Dec 2013 2:48 pm
Too many people and too few resources……
Maybe over population is the problem………
GregT on Sat, 7th Dec 2013 4:59 pm
Yes Kenz, overpopulation is the problem. Overpopulation caused by cheap abundant energy, and exponential growth.
DC on Sat, 7th Dec 2013 5:12 pm
Doesn’t the cowardly US military deliberately target water systems with its of countries it seeks to under-mine in the region?
The amerikans destroyed Iraq’s water systems, Libya’s and dont doubt for a second when the amerikan snake attacks Iran, its water systems too will be a priority target. Israel has all but destroyed Gaza’s water supply. Probably the ones that advised to amerikans to target water in the water stressed countries they jointly attack in the first place.
Juan Pueblo on Sat, 7th Dec 2013 9:03 pm
These people write articles and reports about this and that problem, but they never mention the fact that there are more than 7 billion people living in this planet today, and there will be 80 million more next year, ad infinitum, if it was up to them, it seems.
Roman on Sat, 7th Dec 2013 9:16 pm
How about they build >10000 ft high mountains and collect snow melt. I should patent that.
Bob Inget on Sat, 7th Dec 2013 9:56 pm
Pakistan has nuclear weapons but insufficient nuclear power. (with enough energy,fresh water reclamation is possible)
Overpopulation is just one of Pakistan’s major difficulties.
With fewer than 1,000 cubic meters of water available per person, Pakistan is “one of the most water-stressed countries in the world” according to a new report from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The report covers a range of economic concerns for the country, but its conclusion notes that “boosting agricultural productivity and strengthening food security” will require “improving the management, storage, and pricing of water for irrigation.” 80 percent of Pakistan’s farms are currently irrigated, and the report estimates that the right reforms could double their productivity.
But standing in between Pakistan and that goal is a wealth of challenges. As The Atlantic reports, two-thirds of the country’s population is under 30 and has already grown enormously over the last few decades. By 2030, it’s projected to boom from 180 million residents to 256 million. Climate change is also reducing water flow in the Indus River — Pakistan’s main source of fresh water — resulting in a pincer move that’s rapidly depleting the country’s water supplies. From the ADB’s report:
Water demand exceeds supply, which has caused maximum withdrawal from reservoirs. At present, Pakistan’s storage capacity is limited to a 30-day supply, well below the recommended 1,000 days for countries with a similar climate. Climate change is affecting snowmelt and reducing flows into the Indus River, the main supply source. Increases in storage capacity to manage periods of low snowmelt and low rainfall are required, as well as the rehabilitation of the distribution system to reduce losses.
The Atlantic notes that water shortages are threatening to spark mass demonstrations in Abbottabad — over 5,000 homes in the city went without sufficient water in the hottest months of this year. Political leaders, parties, and organizations within the country are already pointing fingers at one another, and militant Pakistani groups went so far as to accuse neighboring India of “water terrorism.” All of which is a microcosm for why an international poll by Pew found that populations around the world view climate change as their number one threat, and why the U.S. military’s Quadrennial Defense Review called climate change “an accelerant of instability or conflict.”
The pressure is driving Pakistan’s government to protest India’s construction of a series of dam’s on the Indus River. They would lie in India’s territory but sit upstream from Pakistan, thus possibly constricting its water flow. Pakistan is also pushing to renegotiate the terms of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty, which governs how India and Pakistan share the flow from the six rivers of the Indus Basin. It’s an international-scale mirror of a brewing slew of legal conflicts between different U.S. states — such as Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico — over water access to shared rivers. The Pakistan-India dispute is currently being reviewed by the International Court of Arbitration in The Hague.
As both the ADB’s report and The Atlantic point out, outside of altering the treaty — an unlikely prospect, given India’s reluctance — Pakistan has a few other options. Pricing and management of water resources is especially dysfunctional in Asia and North Africa, and Pakistan is no exception; its agricultural industry is notorious for inefficient irrigation and drainage practices. The ADB report cites “anecdotal evidence” that “agricultural productivity could be doubled with appropriate reform.” There’s also the Memorandum of Understanding between the Karachi Water and Sewage board and the China International Water and Electric Corporation, which aims to make that Pakistani city’s water supply self-sufficient.
J-Gav on Sat, 7th Dec 2013 11:01 pm
The water and sewage infrastructure question will be increasingly acute almost everywhere as the lack of capital for its development/maintenance intensifies. The oligarchy’s plan is already in place to privatize all that and make people pay more and more for the privilege of taking a shit.
BillT on Sun, 8th Dec 2013 2:12 am
Yep, J-Gav, the problem is coming to each of our homes soon. Finger pointing will not change the direction of the new Titanic, the S.S. Homo Sapiens. The economic iceberg is ahead and getting bigger everyday. Do you have a lifeboat? Or at least a privy out back? Oh, that’s right. Those are illegal now. LMAO
jmm on Sun, 8th Dec 2013 12:45 pm
de afwezigheid van goed bestuur.
mischien valt onder goed bestuur, ook wel het beperken van het aantal geboorte’s van kinderen.