Gulf | Bahrain
'Arab states to face water stress by 2025'
Severe water stress will hit 17 of the 22 Arab countries within two decades, a new report by environment experts has warned.
- By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
- Published: 23:36 October 27, 2008
Manama: Severe water stress will hit 17 of the 22 Arab countries within two decades, a new report by environment experts has warned.
This comes amid concerns that sustainable development will not be possible in the Arab region until it becomes an integral part of the Arab conscience.
"With the exception of Egypt, Sudan, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, all Arab countries are projected to experience severe water stress by the year 2025," the report titled, Arab Environment: Future Challenges, said.
The 260-page document, released in Bahrain at the Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) which concluded yesterday, called on the Arab states to adopt policies and programmes that will put an end to the wasteful use of water and pressed for greater efforts to confront desertification, considered the most pressing threat to arable lands.
Dr Abdul Rahman Al Awadi, the vice president of AFED's board of trustees, said that the report was the "first serious effort to produce an independent nongovernmental report, prepared by prominent Arab scientists who do not work under government authorities," indicating that it was the condensed effort of more than 30 scientists who wrote or reviewed the different chapters.
"The notion of sustainable development will not see light in the Arab region until it becomes an integral part of the Arab conscience," Sulaiman Al Herbish, Opec's Fund for International Development director general, told the forum.
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