 |
|||||||
| About UNEP | UNEP offices | News centre | Publications | Calendar | Awards | Milestones | UNEP Store |
|
|||||||
|
 |
|
|
|
||
| UNEP>DTIE>IETC | |
|
|
Newsletter and Technical Publications PART A - INTRODUCTION 1. THE FRESHWATER RESOURCES IN WEST ASIA Because of their prevailing environmental and socioeconomic conditions, the Arab countries of West Asia are facing serious water resource problems. Most of the countries of the region are located in arid, semi-arid or desert regions. Even the semi-arid areas are subject to dry cycles that exacerbate these problems. Despite their large land area of 3.9 million km2, the Arab countries typically receive less than 444 billion m3 of water each year. Further, the majority of this rainfall is concentrated in only five countries; namely Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, Syria and Iraq. The countries of the region also are characterized by high population growth rates, which reaches 4.2% in some countries. To accommodate the population growth, economic growth has been stimulated in various industrial and agricultural fields. This has been accompanied by social development, increasing standards of living, and increasing urban population densities, social services and tourism. One result of this growth has been an increase in freshwater demands. At the same time, however, the region has limited renewable water resources of only about 100 billion m3 per year, with 80% of the volume being concentrated in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. Further, several factors restrict the full utilization of these available water resources. The most important is pollution, which limits the usefulness of this water for different demands. This pollution problem is exacerbated by the inadequate sewer systems in the region and the deterioration of potable water supply networks, as well as the lack of such networks in many places. Several rural areas also lack regular freshwater supply networks. Further, water is inefficiently used for agricultural irrigation, the main consumptive water use, accounting for about 85% of the total water use in the region. With increasing freshwater demands, and a decreasing per capita share of renewable freshwater resources, there is an urgent need to develop new freshwater supplies to compensate for the current shortages resulting from the imbalance between the available freshwater resources and the current demands on these resources. This is a primary reason for the increased utilization of unconventional water resources in the region, particularly in the Arab Gulf countries, including (1) reuse of treated sanitary and agricultural drainage water, (2) desalinization of saline water, and (3) purification of surface runoff water. In fact, the volume of the unconventional water resources utilized in the Arab countries totaled approximately 3.4 billion m3 in 1996, with desalinized water comprise more than half of this total. In spite of the efforts being made to develop new freshwater resources, however, the serious problem of inadequate water supplies continues in the region, threatening the sustainable development of a multitude of vital economic sectors, particularly agriculture. It is imperative, therefore, to intensify efforts to increase the region’s freshwater supplies. 2. RATIONALE FOR DEVELOPING THIS SOURCE BOOK The need for adequate supplies of freshwater is not only important for human existence, but also for the maintenance and survival of natural ecological systems. Despite a constant supply of freshwater on a global scale, the withdrawal of freshwater from rivers, lakes and groundwater aquifers has increased by 400% between 1940 and 1990, due primarily to increased population growth and expanded economic development activities. As a result, the demand for freshwater resources has continued to increase in most regions of the world, and many local areas have begun to experience significant freshwater shortage problems. The Earth Summit (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development), held in Rio de Janiro, Brazil in 1992, emphasized the need to balance human needs for natural resources and the ability of nature to provide these resources in a sustainable manner. It also emphasized the need to develop successful approaches and solutions to address this balance. The freshwater chapter (Chapter 18) of Agenda 21 emphasized the use of environmentally-sustainable technologies in the fields of freshwater supply and sanitation. Further, it recognized that enhancing access to information on environmentally-sound technologies was an important factor in facilitating the development of these technologies and their transfer to and among developing countries. In addition, Chapter 34 of Agenda 21 emphasized the need to support the transfer of the environmental-sound technologies, including the development of cooperation and capacity building in developing countries. The essence of this approach is to facilitate the availability of the necessary scientific knowledge and technologies to these countries, in order to provide them with the means of making rationale choices in regard to utilizing environmentally-sound technologies to augment their freshwater supply. The focus was to insure that these choices were compatible with the environmental, economic and social condition of the developing countries. To assist in achieving this goal, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) collaborated with the Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD) to prepare a reference manual on alternative technologies for augmenting freshwater supplies in the Arab countries of West Asia. Similar projects were held in other UNEP regions around the world during this same period. Begun in May 1998, this project encompassed twelve Arab countries, including Syrian Arab Republic, Lebanese Republic, Kingdom of Jordan, Palestine, Republic of Iraq, Republic of Yemen, Sultanate of Oman, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The UNEP was represented by its Regional Office for Western Asia (ROWA), located in Al-Manama, Bahrain, and its International Environment and Technology Center (IETC), located in Shiga, Japan. The Arab Center prepared the final report for this project, in collaboration with experts from all the involved Arab countries. A special workshop was held in April 1999 to discuss the results of this project, and the contents of the final report. The technologies mentioned in this report constitute one input to the main reference manual of alternative technologies for increasing freshwater resources throughout the world, which will be prepared by UNEP on the basis of the various regional reports. This Source Book for West Asia, originally prepared in Arabic, was translated into English by Dr. Hani Mohamed Noshi, Senior Research Scientist, Hydraulics Research Institute, National Water Research Center, Cairo, Egypt. The overriding goal of this Source Book is to prepare a comprehensive description of the technologies available in the West Asia region to increase and promote the environmentally-sustainable utilization of the available freshwater resources. It is meant to assist both governmental and non-governmental officials responsible for the planning and management of water resources by providng them with information on alternative freshwater augmentation technologies. This project was include in UNEP’s 1994/1995 workplan, as a component of the sub-programme on environmental management of fresh water resources and technology transfer. It also supports the goals of Chapters 18 and 34 of Agenda 21, as well as encouraging the achievement of environmentally-sound technology and its transfer to developing countries as a means of assisting them to achieve sustainable development. Another objective of this Source Book is to assist water resource planners in the Arab countries of West Asia by providing them with knowledge and experience in the utilization of technologies consistent with the natural conditions of the region, including (1) those that can be used to increase freshwater supplies, (2) the development of an information exchange mechanism for suitable technologies, and (3) improving the capabilities of the Arab countries of West Asia to better cope with problems of freshwater scarcity.
|
|
|
|||
Table
of Contents
 |
© United
Nations Environment Programme | privacy
policy | terms
and conditions |contacts|support
UNEP | UNEP
sitemap
|