Beyond Scarcity

Water has always been a source of risks and opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa. Yet rapidly changing socioeconomic, political, and environmental conditions make water security a different, and more urgent, challenge than ever before. This report shows that water security is about much more than just coping with water scarcity. It entails ensuring the delivery of affordable and high quality water to citizens in order to reinforce relationships between service providers and customers and contribute to a renewed social contract. It involves managing the impacts of migration on water supplies to ensure -- against a backdrop of historic levels of displacement -- that both host and refugee communities enjoy equitable and reliable access without degrading water resources. As the report describes, water security is an urgent target, but also a target within reach. A host of potential solutions to the region's water management challenges exist. To make these solutions work, clear incentives are needed to change the way water is managed, conserved, and allocated. Countries in the region also will need to engage civil society and youth as well as promote social inclusion.