2023-05-01 04:37:29
A United Nations report warned of an exacerbation of the water security crisis in the Arab region, as nearly 50 million people in the Arab region lack access to basic drinking water, and 390 million people in the region, or nearly 90 percent of the total population, live in countries suffering from water shortages. Water Scarcity.
According to statements by water resource experts to “Sky News Arabia”, conflicts and unrest are one of the main reasons for threatening water security in the Arab region, especially since the sources of rivers in Arab countries are not in Arab countries, which leads to difficulties in negotiations.
Experts warn that the unrest in some countries in the region may be employed within the framework of existing conflicts, such as the unrest in Sudan, for example, and the continuation of these conflicts and the failure to reach understandings may exacerbate the water crisis and threaten food security as well, and matters may reach water wars. .
Sudan unrest
Professor of Water Resources at Cairo University and strategic expert at the General Assembly of the Food Organization of the United Nations “FAO” Nader Noureddine said in exclusive statements to “Sky News Arabia” that unrest and conflicts may have an impact, even if it is not direct.
The disturbances in Sudan, for example, may not have a direct impact on the water security of the Nile Basin countries because Sudan is not a source country affecting other countries, but rather a corridor country and does not contribute tangible shares of the total waters of the Nile River.
However, the events taking place in it may give Ethiopia the opportunity to seize the event and complete the fourth filling without discussions or agreement with Sudan and Egypt without appearing to the world that it is an exploiting country and filling the dam by a unilateral decision without consultation with the river’s partners.
Professor of Geology and Water Resources Abbas Sharqi agrees with him, who said in exclusive statements to Sky News Arabia that the unrest in Sudan will affect all aspects of life in the region.
More than half of the Nile Basin countries are neighboring Sudan, and they will be directly affected, including Ethiopia, which has two issues with Sudan, the Renaissance Dam and the eastern borders of Sudan.
It is expected that Ethiopia will take advantage of the Sudanese events to increase the fourth stockpile as much as possible, while blaming the failure to resume negotiations on the Sudanese situation.
Ethiopia may occupy part of the disputed Sudanese lands and impose a fait accompli policy in light of the Sudanese army’s preoccupation.
Source disputes
Sources conflicts are among the threats to water security in the region, and according to Noureddine, there are discussions regarding conflicts that may threaten water security in the region.
These talks aim to solve the problems that occurred, for example, between Iraq and Syria on the one hand, and Turkey on the other, because of the dams that Turkey built on the Euphrates River.
A similar problem also arose between Syria and Iraq on the one hand, and Iran on the other, because part of the Tigris and Euphrates belonged to Iran, which also built dams on these rivers, and understandings were reached with Turkey, but Iran refuses the talks.
There is also a problem between Egypt and Sudan on the one hand, and Ethiopia on the one hand, and the basis of all these problems is that the sources of rivers in the Arab countries are in non-Arab countries, hence the difficulty of negotiations with Iran, Turkey and Ethiopia.
So far, no wars have broken out in the region over water, but there is misuse of water and disagreements that may reach water wars if understandings are not reached.
Extreme water poverty may lead to these wars, and Egyptian President Mohamed Anwar Sadat more than 50 years ago said in his famous statement in 1979 following the peace agreement with Israel that the only thing that might force Egypt to war in the next stage is not politics but water.
Therefore, Ethiopia’s ambitions in the Nile water, for example, are clear and threaten national security. Therefore, if many negative aspects appear on Egypt and Sudan, water wars may break out, especially since Ethiopia intends to build other dams on the Blue Nile, which supplies the Nile River with more than 60 percent of its resources.
Double crunch
Shraki points out that the Arab world suffers from a major water problem by virtue of location and nature, and the problem is increasing with population growth, because the amount of water is constant and the population is increasing in addition to the increase in per capita consumption.
Naturally, conflicts lead to a greater threat to water security in the region, especially in light of the problems with Turkey regarding the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Egypt also has problems with Ethiopia because of the Renaissance Dam and the threat to Egypt’s share of the water, just as Palestine, Jordan and Syria have very big problems with Israel, which controls the Golan due to water, as the Golan is the source of a third of Israeli water, and it also controls the Palestinian groundwater, Palestinians can use groundwater only with an Israeli permit.
The impact of these conflicts is also increasing in a country like Iraq, and although 50 percent of the water resources in Iraq are from the inside and the other 50 percent from abroad, they suffer because of the water conflict with Turkey.
The impact of these conflicts is a double crisis, as it extends not only to water security but also to food security, a crisis that is exacerbated in the event of wars such as the Ukrainian war, or emergencies that affect food imports, as happened in the Corona period.
Water poverty
Noureddine points out that water security in the region is threatened in light of the increasing challenges, as expectations indicate that in 2050 the Arab countries will be below the water poverty line, and currently there are some Arab countries below the extreme water poverty line with a balance of 500 cubic meters per person per year. This is at a time when the water poverty line is at 1000 cubic meters.
There are some Arab countries where the per capita share of water is “zero”, and these countries depend on desalination, and other countries suffer from severe droughts due to the scarcity of rain, such as Tunisia.
The World Bank has warned of water poverty in the Arab region and that the situation is getting worse, so there is a tendency to establish artificial rivers such as the Great River Project, which the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced to be established through connections from nearby heavy rain estuaries.
We must work from now on with water scarcity and scarcity in the Arab region, due to the high temperature and the dryness of the region, as 19 out of 22 countries suffer from water scarcity.
The region urgently needs 25 billion cubic meters quickly to deal with water poverty.
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