Regional efforts needed to contain ME water crisis

Crisis falling under ‘water poverty line’

BUDAPEST, Hungary, April 1, (KUNA): Regional and international efforts are needed to contain the water crisis in the Middle East, said Kuwait’s Ambassador to Hungary Dr Hamad Burhamah on Friday.

The crisis is facing the area falling under the “water poverty line” of 1, 000 cubic meters per person, Burhamah noted during a lecture on challenges and future of Arab water resources. The lecture was held by Arab communities league in Budapest.

He pointed out three main reasons behind water scarcity in the Arab world; hydrologic related to global warming, demographic and man-made.

Demographically, he said, “population of the Arab world is currently 315 million, and is expected to reach 851 million in 2050, hence the 2015 water consumption of 350 billion cubic meters per year is inevitably likely to rise.” Meanwhile, hydrologically, the Nile basin, the Tigris and Euphrates basin and the Jordan River basin all suffered, and are still suffering from Israeli schemes that date back to the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, which resulted in Israel seizing over 40 percent of current Palestinian water resources, the ambassador said.

On Kuwait’s contribution to help solve the crisis, Burhamah said up until the end of last year, Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development have offered 93 loans to finance agricultural, water and sanitation projects, with a total cost of $994 million.