A few decades from now, nations in the Middle East and North Africa could face potentially catastrophic water shortages that could pose an even greater challenge than the upheavals gripping Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, and elsewhere.
Unfortunately, the water crisis over the horizon doesn’t receive much serious attention from policymakers, the media, and the public because so many other crises plague the troubled region right now.
Contrary to popular belief, the most important liquid in the Middle East and North Africa isn’t the vast supply of oil that brings in billions of dollars every year. It’s water, and the scarcity of this vital resource could leave some nations unable to meet the needs of rapidly growing populations in less than 40 years.
How to win the next Mideast war – over water
By Russell Sticklor
In Energy, Water & Oceans
A few decades from now, nations in the Middle East and North Africa could face potentially catastrophic water shortages that could pose an even greater challenge than the upheavals gripping Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, and elsewhere.
Unfortunately, the water crisis over the horizon doesn’t receive much serious attention from policymakers, the media, and the public because so many other crises plague the troubled region right now.
Contrary to popular belief, the most important liquid in the Middle East and North Africa isn’t the vast supply of oil that brings in billions of dollars every year. It’s water, and the scarcity of this vital resource could leave some nations unable to meet the needs of rapidly growing populations in less than 40 years.
To read the full op-ed, click here.
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This op-ed was first published in Christian Science Monitor on September 30, 2013
Photo by USACE Afghanistan Engineer District-South via flickr