Future Beat: Water scarcity crisis

Hi there. This week, I'm doing something different and dedicating this issue to special coverage from our newsroom. In order to understand where we are headed, and build correctly for that future, we must first know the realities of our present.

Of the 17 most water-stressed countries in the world, 11 are in the Middle East and North Africa — meaning the places we report on are some of the worst affected in the world by the water crisis.

For the past few months my colleague Juman Jarallah, our special projects editor, has been working with correspondents across the region to get firsthand accounts, from hopeful things like turning to new cash crops in Jordan and investing in technology in Iraq, to the more dire. Every affected country is in some way facing down hunger, thirst, debt and displacement.

"With Cop28 being hosted in a Middle Eastern country for the second year in a row, focus has turned to the region and the devastating effect climate change will have on it should the world not take more urgent action," Juman told me.

Our correspondents in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon have looked into the extent of the crisis and what is being done to safeguard water security.

This is what they found.

Be well,

Kelsey Warner, Future Editor

The Big Story

Arab nations seek water solutions as farmers bear brunt

In brief | A lack of fresh water resources in the Middle East and North Africa is being compounded by climate change, population growth, poor management and — in some places — conflict. It has reached a stage where it affects the daily lives and health of millions.

Quoted | “There are big challenges ahead of us in summer when the temperature and evaporation increase. That may force us to reconsider the agriculture needs and focus on securing water for humans.” - Aoun Diab, Iraq's Minister of Water and Resources

Why it matters | As the climate crisis accelerates, water scarcity in a region home to 360 million people is expected to worsen and disrupt economic growth. A report from the World Bank found that climate-related water scarcity may lead to economic losses of up to 14 per cent of the region’s total GDP over the next 30 years.

Technological innovations and improved water-management systems are helping to soften the blow. Some countries are seeking international collaborations, developing desalination plants, encouraging sustainable agriculture as well as water-recycling programmes.

Egypt's dams left tens of thousands displaced

Hamza Abdel Rasool cuts a forlorn figure as he sits in the bow of his motorised boat, keeping it steady in the choppy waters between the Aswan Low Dam and the High Dam — two giant structures built in the 1900s in an effort to control the flooding of the Nile Basin.

“For all I know there are maybe homes underneath this very water here,” says the 41-year-old Nubian. “There used to be narrow water channels running between the mainland and the islands in this area, not this vast mass of water you see here."

It’s a scenic spot of deep blue water from which visitors and local commuters can see hilly islands partially ringed by majestic rock formations and dotted with homes painted in cheerful bright colours — an enduring Nubian tradition — evidence of a unique way of life that was upended decades ago. Continue reading...

Iraqis turn to smart irrigation and an oasis blooms

In the heart of Iraq’s southern parched desert, a verdant oasis rises like a mirage. But this is no illusion — it’s a thriving farm kept lush and green by the power of the sprinkler irrigation system.

“I consider the desert areas as the storehouse of food in the country due to the abundance of its groundwater and other ingredients,” said investor Wail Al Ghazali, 50.

“With the water stress that we are facing now, these areas could transform Iraq to a wheat exporter within two or three years with full support from the government." Continue reading...

Jordanian farmers turn to new crops in delicate balance of water and profit

Yacoub Miguel visited an agricultural trade fair in Dubai a decade ago looking for contacts to market his vegetable crop, but no one was interested.

“I wanted to sell cucumbers and Gulf merchants were asking me if I had strawberries,” says Mr Miguel, a Jordanian farmer who studied agricultural engineering at Jordan University.

“When I went back, I converted my farm to strawberries.”

At his four-hectare farm on the road to Amman's international airport, Mr Miguel plants half a million saplings a year. These produce 250 tonnes of large strawberries with a sweet aftertaste, mostly for export to the Gulf and Europe.

Strawberries, which have a lucrative market abroad, consume relatively little of Jordan’s meagre water supply compared with thirsty crops that many farmers still cultivate, despite pressures on the irrigation system. Continue reading...

Lebanon's power crisis exacerbates water scarcity

The thick maple tree in Baalchmay, a town carved into the hills of the Mount Lebanon region, almost acts as a dividing line on the road in the lower parts of the area. Perhaps about 200 years old, the tree is so broad that it is nearly as wide as the small cars passing by.

Only metres away is a spring. It is said the proximity of the water nearby allowed the maple tree and its thick branches to grow to such an extent, and survive previous conflicts that hit the area.

“In the past, the story goes that if you got a shovel and were just digging a little bit, water would come from the ground. That’s how rich the area was with water,” said Adham Al Danaf, the mayor of Baalchmay, a town of about 4,500 Lebanese residents and up to 3,000 refugees. Continue reading...