The Water-Energy-Food Nexus in the Middle East and North Africa : Scenarios for a Sustainable Future
Water, energy, and agriculture have been conventionally dealt with separately in investment planning. For each of these sectors, regulatory frameworks, organizations, and infrastructures have been put in place to address sector-specific challenges...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/927041530193545554/The-water-energy-food-nexus-in-the-Middle-East-and-North-Africa-scenarios-for-a-sustainable-future http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29957 |
| Summary: | Water, energy, and agriculture have been
conventionally dealt with separately in investment planning.
For each of these sectors, regulatory frameworks,
organizations, and infrastructures have been put in place to
address sector-specific challenges and demands. As the
Middle East and North Africa works towards building a more
sustainable future, a nexus approach that considers the
risks and synergies among these sectors is needed. To
demonstrate the added value of a nexus approach, this report
applies scenario analysis and integrated assessment
modelling of the water-energy-food nexus to the Middle East
and North Africa. The analysis finds that water scarcity
increases in all countries in the region over the coming
decades, mostly due to growing demands. More importantly,
the analysis finds that many countries in the region could
run out of fossil groundwater by 2050 unless measures to
curb unsustainable abstraction are implemented. The impacts
of growing scarcity on agriculture are significant, with
production projected to drop by 60 by 2050 in some
countries. On the upside, reducing the dependence of the
agricultural and energy sectors on water and transitioning
to renewable energies can reduce water scarcity, at the same
time reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This report is
targeted to policy makers, the academic community, and a
wider global audience interested in exploring the
interactions between water, agriculture, and energy. |
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