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To secure basic rights

Nov 20,2015 - Last updated at Nov 20,2015

The Arab states have the lowest freshwater availability per capita of any region in the world.

Supply patterns are intermittent in many areas; around 17 per cent of the population lack access to improved sources of drinking water (worse than the world average of 11 per cent), and 20 per cent lack access to improved sanitation facilities.

Deleterious water practices — poorly regulated wastewater and solid waste disposal and unregulated industry — mean that meagre water reserves are increasingly polluted and ecosystems have been compromised.

Water pollution and unsafe waste disposal also have attendant consequences for health, urban poverty and reduced productivity.

In several countries, these tensions are being exacerbated by refugee influxes. Indisputably, this situation will continue to worsen.

Population growth will increase demand for water both directly and indirectly through energy and food, and the effects of climate change, such as extreme weather events and seawater intrusion, will aggravate each of these challenges.

If water scarcity was not enough to deal with, the conflict engulfing the region is now threatening this precious natural resource.

Daesh’s actions over the past year have added water to the ever-growing list of weapons of war.

Had it not been recovered, the group’s seizure of the Mosul dam could have resulted in disaster flooding of thousands.

Policy experts predict that as Daesh pushes out of Iraq, water resources in Lebanon, such as Lake Qaraoun, will become viable targets.

Admittedly, this is not altogether new, with conflicts over water merging with political sensitivities throughout the region over the last decades.

What is new is how scholars are beginning to see water as a causal factor to conflict as opposed to an object of collateral damage.

Many opine that the 2006-2011 drought in Syria — which pushed 1.5 million people off their land and into towns — was a key driver of the civil war.

Scholars at the University of Sanaa are beginning to find evidence of similar causality with respect to Yemen.

We need to better understand how inequitable access to basic resources operate as conflict triggers, not only in isolation, but in concert with other factors such as inequity in resource sharing, accountability and access to services.

An unlikely but tangible source of optimism in this situation is Africa.

The Organisation for the Development of the Senegal River (OMVS) was created in 1972 as a cooperative effort of Guinea, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal to manage the Senegal River and its drainage basin.

Within the OMVS, states share in planning, financing and monitoring of the shared water for the domestic water sector, agriculture, energy and transport.

Some credit this trans-boundary initiative with helping to end the border conflict between Mauritania and Senegal in 1989-1991.

The painfully obvious question is how could Africa — a region riddled with equally onerous challenges — make such tangible progress when West Asia-North Africa has not?

This begs the question of what would need to happen for regional icons such as the Jordan River to transform into a shelter for a diverse ecosystem, a symbol of peace, and a source of prosperity for citizens? 

Countries facing severe and chronic water scarcity need an evidence-based and enforceable policy framework.

Action plans must take into account the inter-sectorial nature of water including tourism, agriculture, industry, health and social protection.

We must admit and confront the very real divergent and vested interests of those with a stake in water, energy and agriculture policy.

Policy action plans must address basic issues first. For example, Jordan has extremely limited sources of water, but aged water infrastructure means that the country loses at least 76 billion litres of water annually due to leakage.

Then, policy must address the extent to which our actions are making a bad situation far worse.

This will involve difficult changes. Over-pumping of water tables and improper irrigation practices (which increase salinity) must be disincentivised or sanctioned.

Pricing policies and subsidies must encourage efficient use of water in the agricultural sector, complemented by encouraging farming in better performing crops and creating new jobs outside of the agricultural sector.

Second, regional challenges require regional solutions.

The WANA region does not just share bodies of water; it shares populations and it shares a regional food system.

But saying that trans-boundary cooperation is necessary is not sufficient, and perhaps it is time to honestly articulate the challenges in play.

We must also recognise that while political stability, good governance and effective institutions are critical to development, so are they to water policy.

In light of the recently launched Sustainable Development Goals, we must think seriously about the pivotal role that natural resources management plays in good governance.

Third, we must transform water users into water stakeholders.

Whether it is trans-boundary water cooperation or cleaner energy practices, citizens must own the ideas.

They must have a sense of proprietary over water resources before they can pressure governments to uphold water rights and responsibilities.

In much of the region people are not informed about water scarcity.

We need to think more carefully about the structural and social changes that are needed to facilitate the empowerment of citizens as water ambassadors, and to transform current feelings of apathy and complacency into a generation that is willing to defend their rights to essential resources, secure livelihoods and health.

 

The writer is executive director of the West Asia–North Africa (WANA) Institute, a policy development think tank based in Amman. She contributed this article to The Jordan Times.

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