(ANSAmed) - NAPLES, JUNE 22 - The Middle East is one of the
most vulnerable regions when it comes to climate change,
newspaper 'The National' reports. The daily showed US military
satellite images from 1960 to 1970 with a huge territory that
changed significantly over a decade. A study by the World
Resources Institute in 2019 revealed that 12 out of the 17 most
"water stressed" countries are in the region, showing according
to the parameters used by the research institute a risen in
"pressures upon the state deriving from the population itself or
the environment around it".
Some of the countries in the area - including Yemen, Syria
and Iraq - are experiencing water scarcity, climate change,
conflict and mismanagement, which combined create a multi-sided
crisis, worsening the impact of drought and desertification. The
problem is reported in addition to strong population growth of
the area in countries not involved in a war like Jordan and
Saudi Arabia that are dealing with new challenges to maintain
certainty on water. Images refer to 1970 when the Middle East
had a population of some 120 million citizens, while 2020
estimates provided by the World Bank refer to over 420 million
and could reach 700 million by 2050 if the current demographic
trends continue.
The images provide examples of how the territory has changed,
like a picture from 1969 of Buraydah, in Saudi Arabia which has
hosted since 1964 the Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz International
Airport that brought over the years to the construction of new
towns, universities and distinctive circular fields of
center-pivot irrigation, the newspaper reported. It went on to
explain that images of such a development emerging in dry
environments point to the coming challenges to national water
strategies, showing what is at stake for communities dealing
with reduced water supply in the future. Over the years,
strategies to deal with reduced water provision have emerged,
like in Jordan and Iraq where irrigation has new and more
efficient rules and water tariffs have risen to halt excessive
consumption.
Jawad Al Bakri, a professor of agriculture at the University
of Jordan, has stated recently that a strong reduction in water
in the agricultural sector will strongly damage fields, and that
in the northern region of the country the search for groundwater
must be activated to get the water necessary to continue
activities.
Water problems are also rising in Gaza, where images from
1967 until today show the transformation of large areas into
agricultural land thanks to the use of more energy sources.
However, today there is fear that these sources could dry up,
bringing a desert area. To fight the phenomenon, Gaza has some
seawater desalination plants producing water for more than
800,000 residents but also consumes a lot of energy in an era
vying for sustainable development. (ANSAmed).