17 March 2011
BRUSSELS - The next waves of protest in the Middle East could come from the growing water crisis in the region, where water is becoming increasingly rare.
The water emergency could unleash further instability should the matter not be jointly tackled by the involved countries. Such is the scenario provided by the figures of the latest ''The Blue Peace'' report presented this week in the European Parliament in Brussels. Financed by Sweden and Switzerland, the report examines the situation in seven countries: Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Graham Watson, a liberal democrat English EuroMP, explained that ''The report proposes a stable cooperation network between the countries of the region, which through a sustainable allocation of resources could also aid the peace process in the Middle East''.
According to the report, the flow of rivers in Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan dropped from 50 to 90% between 1960 and 2010. An example is provided by the Jordan river, a source of water for 5 countries, which dropped its flow by 90% since 1960.
Accordingly what is proposed is the establishment of a Council of Cooperation as a means to set common standards to measure the flow and quality of water and then adopt sustainable management objectives and regional strategies to combat climate changes and drought. According to the scenarios provided by the weather experts, in the next 50 years Syria will see 60% of its land threatened by desertification, a phenomenon that will also affect Turkey, Iraq and Jordan. The Palestinian Territories and Israel will be the most impacted by the water emergency because of the drop in water resources over the last decade. Lake Kinneret, in Israel, could become salty. And the only path to deal with the problem, according to the report, lies in the establishment of a cooperation tool between the relevant Israeli and Palestinian authorities. Technical solutions such as desalinisation or the recycling waste water could act as a stopgap for a dozen years, but then external resources will become necessary, and thus cooperation will be essential.
Even Iraq has to deal with a substantial drop in water, 90% of swamps have already disappeared. The level of the Dead Sea instead dropped from 390 metres below sea level in the '60s to 420 metres below, which are expected to increase to 450 metres by 2040. The potential result is that by 2150 the Dead Sea will turn into a tiny lake.
Source: ANSAmed.
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