Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Water of love

"According to the 2008 Stockholm Water Prize winner, Tony Allan, the Middle East basically “ran out of water” in the 1970s and today largely depends on water from outside the region being traded into the region, primarily in the form of its food imports. Nevertheless, about 87% of the region’s freshwater is allocated to agriculture. Continued water scarcity will affect the region’s social and economic potential, increase land vulnerability to salinization and desertification, and raise the risk for political conflict around the limited water available. Still, arid zones are no less prone to violent behavior than states sharing water in water humid zones."

A document on Water and Conflict in the Middle East by the Human Security Gateway.


Remember the Dire Straits song? Read it in context

1 comment:

Leila Abu-Saba said...

Permaculture - dig swales, compost the mounds and let captured rainfall water the ensuing raised planting areas ... as shown in that African article I sent you, and as advocated by those Australian permaculturists - isn't that a low-tech, immediately accessible way to start maximizing the water available right now? Or does this approach have a drawback or flaw that its proponents don't understand?