The Political Economy of Water in the MENA Region: a Cross-Regional Assessment

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The proposed research will assess the challenges facing MENA countries as they attempt to achieve water security, over the period between now and the middle of this century. It will identify the countries and demographic groups likely to be most severely affected. It will look at all the various factors which could affect water security in the region, including the effectiveness (or otherwise) of governments, climate change, population growth, pollution and the unsustainable consumption of ground-water. Particular attention would be paid to the countries of the Maghreb (North Africa minus Egypt), as British and US researchers have not examined water issues in these countries as thoroughly as they have those affecting the Middle East. The research will examine how well-equipped individual MENA governments are to deal with the challenges they face in trying to ensure that their countries have adequate supplies of water of acceptable quality. It will assess the prospects for constructive cooperation among MENA states and, where those prospects seem poor, the likelihood of increased tension or even conflict between particular states over water.Finally, it will suggest what the UK might realistically do to help these countries better address these challenges. Any such recommendations will avoid utopian solutions that would be likely to prove to be a waste of UK taxpayers' money.