The Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mahmoud Abu-Zeid has announced that a database is being set up for partnership projects between the public and the private sectors to implement drinking water, sanitation, irrigation and water desalination projects in order to encourage the private sector to invest in them in the Arab countries. Abu-Zeid, who is also head of the Arab Water Council, has stressed that Arab water security has become "at stake", as he put it. Therefore, he said decisive actions should be taken to face the several challenges posed by limited fresh water in the Arab world in light of demographic growth. There should be joint Arab action and more coordination between Arab governments to face these challenges, he added.
Minister Abu-Zeid gave such statements during the closing session of a conference on capacity building of journalists and Arab media pundits. The conference was held last Friday by the Arab Water Council in cooperation with the United Nations anti-desertification and capacity-building programs. The Palestinians are suffering so much that they are looking for a jerricane of water instead of searching for food, the minister said, noting that the recent events in the Gaza Strip and the flagrant aggression on the Palestinian territories and water resources made it incumbent upon the Arabs to search for mechanisms ensuring the rights of the peoples to get their water without any threats.
Abu-Zeid said he expected more than a third of the world's population to suffer from water shortages over the coming 25 years, mostly in the Middle East and Western Asia. Statistics indicate that the world consumes 54% of available fresh water. This percentage will reach 70% by 2025 due to demographic growth.
Water shortages and the continuing deterioration of its quality will lead to tensions in areas that depend on common rivers. This tension will be not only among the peoples of riparian States, but also between rural and urban areas and water-consuming sectors. The increasing demand for water for drinking, agriculture and industry has led to serious problems in the balance between resources and requirements in several Arab countries, especially as more than 50% of their surface water resources come from outside their borders. In addition, most of the groundwater resources in the Arab world are non-renewable, Abu-Zeid added.
Water is the main engine to ensure food security, as food production consumes more than 80% of the water resources in general while the Arab countries depend on importing food from world markets. This increases the political and economic risks which could be posed by the exporting countries in light of price fluctuations on international markets during the coming years, the minister said.
The Arab Water Council is due to present an Arab working paper during the activities of the World Water Forum, to be held next March. The working paper illustrates the impacts of climate change on the Arab region and how to manage its risks. It also reviews human development, the Millennium Development Goals, cooperation between countries sharing common basins, and the opening of areas to attract the necessary funding for the implementation of water projects in Arab countries.
