Tackle water scarcity, sanitation to boost stability: World Bank

YAOUNDE: The Middle East and North Africa region loses about $21 billion each year because of an inadequate supply of water and sanitation, the World Bank said yesterday, warning urgent action was needed to prevent ripple effects on stability and growth.

Poor management of water resources and sanitation in the world’s most water-scarce region costs about 1% of its annual gross domestic product, with conflict-hit states losing as much as 2% to 4% each year, the bank said in a report issued at the World Water Week conference in Stockholm, Sweden.

Deaths because of unsafe water and sanitation, particularly countries affected by conflict, are higher than the global average, it added.

“As the current conflict and migration crisis unfolding in the Middle East and North Africa shows, failure to address water challenges can have severe impacts on people’s well-being and political stability,” the report said.

With the urban population in the region expected to double by 2050 to nearly 400 million, a combination of policy, technology and water management tools should be used to improve the situation, the report said.

“Water productivity – how much return you get for every drop of water used – in the Middle East is the lowest in the world,” said Anders Jägerskog, a specialist in water resources management and one of the report’s authors.

Middle Eastern and North African countries are using far more water than can be replenished, said the report, dubbing the region “a global hotspot of unsustainable water use”.

To reverse the trend, technology and innovation are “essential but not enough”, Jägerskog told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Water governance – in particular, water tariffs and subsidies – must also be addressed, he said.

The region has the world’s lowest water tariffs and spends the highest proportion of GDP on public water subsidies. Such policies lead to excessive use of water supplies and are not sustainable, said Jägerskog. – Reuters