Effects of population growth and water scarcity in the MENA countries
Water shortage is a problem in the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA). The population growth is estimated to be high. Given the hydrological situation and the estimated huge population growth, people will try to escape from poverty and conflicts. To counteract these effects, resources must be allocated to implement more efficient use of the available water resources, mainly to produce more food. This will, however, not be enough since the water volumes needed for future food production is not available. Economic development is a necessity for the countries to fight poverty and to be able to import food for the growing population. If not, the living conditions will become so repulsive that poverty and starvation, most probably followed by conflicts, will result in enormous suffering and large internal migration and external migration to e.g. Europe in a much larger scale compared to what we have seen so far. Thus, economic development is a necessity