WAY TO WATER RESILIENCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Innovation and regional coordination are key to tackling a challenge that affects every community

- BY RASHED AWAD ALKETBI | Special to Gulf News

The Middle East is experiencing several overlapping crises. Among the ongoing wars and conflicts, water scarcity holds an important place in the region's equations. The Middle East faces a future where water and food security are increasingly under threat, with per capita availability of fresh water falling below the UN's water poverty threshold of 1,000 cubic metres per person per year. There are also uncertainties about the availability of sufficient quantity and quality of fresh water to sustain livelihoods without negatively impacting people, the environment, and economies.

The entire world is affected by water scarcity to varying degrees. More than one billion people live in areas suffering from water scarcity, and 1.6 billion people face water shortages. However, the Middle East and North Africa are among the regions most severely affected by the water crisis.

According to the United Nations (2023), around 50 million people in the Arab region lack access to basic drinking water, and 390 million people (90 per cent of the total Arab population) suffer from water scarcity.

Natural limits, human impact

Water scarcity is a natural phenomenon exacerbated by human intervention. Fresh water on Earth is sufficient for more than 8 billion people (the global population), but it is unevenly distributed across geography and demography.