Near East and North Africa

1
Managing
water scarcity
Near East and North Africa
2
Overview

• Major water challenges in the Near East and
  North Africa (NENA) region
• The state of water is reaching crisis level.
  (What are the major indicators?)
• Key responses to address the water challenges
• Major water policy reforms needed
• Water-saving technologies in irrigated
  agriculture
• Water-saving technologies in rainfed agriculture
• IFADs engagement in addressing water scarcity
  in NENA
• Key points for discussion

3

• Major Water Challenges
• in the NENA Region

4
State of Water in the NENA Region

• NENA is the driest region in the world, with
  increasing drought frequency and severity.
• With 5 of the worlds population, the region is
  endowed with only 1 of the worlds accessible
  freshwater.
• Available surface water is limited and threatened
  by increasing soil erosion.
• Groundwater is being pumped in excess of natural
  recharge rates.

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State of Water in the NENA Region

• Projected water availability is lower than in
  other water-scarce regions

Cubic metre/per capita/per year
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State of Water in the NENA Region

• Freshwater availability is falling to crisis
  levels

Cubic metre/per capita/per year
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State of Water in the NENA Region

• Stress related to water quality and quantity is
  severe

H I G H Algeria Egypt Iraq Lebanon Morocco Syria Tunisia Jordan West Bank and Gaza Yemen
L O W Bahrain Kuwait Oman Qatar Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates
LOW H I G H
Water Quality Severity
Water Quantity Severity
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State of Water in the NENA Region
Water Sector Uses
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State of Water in the NENA Region

• Many people still lack access to safe water
• Population with Water Coverage ('000)

Total population without coverage 22.6 million
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State of Water in the NENA Region

• In irrigation, cost recovery is low
• Irrigation Operation and Maintenance (OM)
• Cost Recovery Ratio
• Ratios gt1 indicate user repayment not only for
  OM but also
• for capital and replacement costs.

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• Key Responses to Address
• the Water Challenges

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Major Water Policy Reforms Needed

• Adopt an integrated approach to water resource
  management in service delivery
• Consider water as a holistic resource with
  competing demands.
• Promote service delivery on the basis of water
  users demand and their repayment capacity.
• Support private and public water service
  providers that create economic incentives for
  sustainable water use.

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Major Water Policy Reforms Needed

• Raise water tariffs, without excluding targeted
  subsidies to the poorest. This is critical to
• promote savings of water use by increasing
  tariffs
• set water charges to cover all water
  infrastructure maintenance costs
• ensure financial sustainability of water service
  providers (irrigation and drinking)
• save water for ecological reserve and
  environmental purposes

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Major Water Policy Reforms Needed

• Promote policy reforms to encourage farmers to
  shift to irrigated crops, which provide higher
  value per unit of water
• Priority should be given to crops requiring less
  water.
• With globalization, the virtual water concept
  becomes an important factor in agricultural
  trade.
• In NENA, given scarcity of water, promotion of
  export crop production should not be based on
  foreign currency needs but driven by the
  implications for the sustainability of water
  resources.

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Major Water Policy Reforms Needed

• Adopt a sustainable groundwater use strategy
• An underground water control by-law should be
  issued and enforced to regulate the use of
  groundwater resources based on the following
  principles
• Underground water is owned and controlled by the
  State, and ownership of land does not include
  ownership of groundwater.
• Extraction and use of underground water is
  authorized by a license to the landowner.
• The 2002 Jordanian Underground Water Control
  By-Law is a good example.

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Major Water Policy Reforms Needed

• Decentralize water management responsibility
• The management of water distribution networks
  (except primary canals) should be decentralized
  and turned over to farmers.
• Decentralization should include poor farmers as
  members of water users associations.
• Changes in behavioural and social patterns need
  to be fostered to conserve water (public
  awareness).

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Major Water Policy Reforms Needed

• Promote cooperation for sustainable management of
  transboundary water resources
• Shared ground and surface water resources need to
  be jointly assessed and monitored (in terms of
  quantity and quality).
• Concerted action plans should be adopted for
  sustainable use of shared water resources.
• The ongoing experience of Algeria, the Libyan
  Arab Jamahiriya and Tunisia (IFAD-supported
  programme implemented by the Sahara and Sahelian
  Observatory SSO) is a possible model.

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Water-Saving Technologies in Irrigated
Agriculture

• Use treated waste water for irrigation (Jordan).
• Increase adoption of new precision irrigation and
  drainage systems.
• Promote low-cost water-harvesting technologies
  (Jordan, Tunisia).
• Adopt conservation tillage and planting on raised
  beds to use irrigation water more efficiently.
• Exploit available technologies for saline water
  use (recent International Center for Biosaline
  Agriculture ICBA results).

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Water-Saving Technologies in Rainfed Agriculture

• Improved small-scale and supplemental irrigation
  systems can increase productivity of rainfed
  agriculture.
• More efficient crop sequencing and timely
  planting can achieve significant savings in water
  use.
• New crop varieties, requiring less water, are
  being developed by research institutions, and
  some are already available.

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IFADs Engagement in Addressing Water Scarcity
in NENA

• Promoting sustainable water use and access to
  water by the rural poor is an IFAD regional
  strategic objective
• IFAD loans targeting small-scale irrigation,
  rainfed farming and rural potable water supply
  schemes are
• promoting the latest available technologies for
  improving water-use efficiency
• involving the rural poor in water governance
  through grass-roots water users associations

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IFADs Engagement in Addressing Water Scarcity
in NENA

• IFAD regional grants aim at generating and
  testing new approaches in the sustainable water
  management. Examples are
• action research on participatory irrigation
  management programme (International Centre for
  Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies
  CIHEAM)
• use of brackish and saline water (Arab Center for
  the Studies of Arid Zones and Drylands ACSAD
  and ICBA)
• On farm water harvesting (ICARDA)
• facilitating of collaboration on transboundary
  water (SSO)
• capacity-building for management of water demand
  (International Development Research Centre IDRC)

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Key Points for Discussion

• What are the most critical policy measures needed
  to enhance water-use efficiency at the farm
  level?
• To what extent can water prices be increased to
  fully cover OM costs?
• How can pro-poor and participatory water
  governance in irrigation and potable water supply
  be promoted in rural areas?
• How can cooperation be enhanced in managing
  transboundary water resources?