Manama: Water challenges must be addressed if the Arab region is to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, attain prosperity, and reach a future of sustainable human development, says a new United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report launched in Bahrain.


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, according to the report entitled Water Governance in the Arab Region: Managing Scarcity and Securing the Future.

The report says the water scarcity in the region is fast reaching alarming levels, with dire consequences to human development.

While the region accounts for five percent of the world’s population and 10 percent of its area, it accounts for less than one percent of global water resources, its share of annual renewable water resources is also less than one percent, and it receives only 2.1 percent of average annual global precipitation. Over 87 percent of the region’s terrain is desert and 14 of the world’s 20 most water-stressed countries are in this region.

The average Arab citizen has eight times less access to renewable water that the average global citizen and more than two thirds of surface water resources originate from outside the region.

SOURCE: ARABNEWS.COM