Abstract:

Access to clean and safe water is a prerequisite to meeting basic human rights. Water is indispensable for all productive activities in the sectors of agriculture, industry and energy generation; it is also crucial to the existence of ecosystems and all life within them. However, water scarcity affects more than 40 percent of the global population and is projected to rise, with more than 1.7 billion people currently living in river basins where water use exceeds recharge. With the impacts of climate change increasing, issues of water access and scarcity will worsen and disproportionately affect poor communities. In the Near East and North Africa (NENA) in particular, water scarcity is a key development issue in the region which is hosting 11 out of the 17 most water-stressed countries in the world.