Recommendations for policy and practice on improved local water governance in the Middle East and North Africa

The countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are home to 5% of the world’s population but have less than 1% of the world’s renewable fresh water. While conventional water availability (within country and regionally) remains relatively constant, the absence of adequate pricing policy and institutional reforms, population growth, migration from rural to urban areas, and increases in household incomes, have resulted in water demand increasing sharply beyond sustainable levels in these countries. The region’s per capita supply, for example, stands at only one-third of its 1960 level, and water availability is expected to halve over the next 25 years if the present pattern of use continues. In addressing this situation, there is an increasing recognition of the need to enhance the influence of the different stakeholders on the planning and decision-making process for the use and management of (scarce) water resources. In other words, the global movement in the field of water resources management is in the direction of enabling a systematic approach of stakeholders dialogue and concerted action as a means to improve local water governance. [authors abstract]