How prepared is the Middle East?

“Are water scarce countries equipped and ready to meet the challenge of a global water crisis?” This was one of the first questions Dr. Thomas posed at us during his presentation.

The relevance of this question struck me given the current headlines making the news about the unstable situation in the Middle East. According to the presentation, the Middle East is considered to be suffering from a physical scarcity of water (vs. economic scarcity of water such as in Africa). Tunisia, Jordan, Egypt, Algeria, Iraq and Lebanon are among the countries currently facing civil or political unrest. Perhaps water is not presently the focal issue for these countries’ governments, however, given their current struggles, will they be well equipped to deal with increasing water shortages? Can there be a link between the rising price of staples and increasing water scarcity?

A wave of violent demonstrations recently took over Algeria and Tunisia as well as Jordan in protest over high prices, unemployment and falling living standards.[1] Jordan consequently announced a $225 million package of cuts in the prices of some types of fuel and of staple products including sugar and rice, and other Arab countries have taken similar steps.[2] This was merely a reactive response to escalating dissent. Although some may argue rising prices in commodities, staples and fuel, is the influence of the recent economic downturn; I speculate they are more linked to faulty or inadequate non-proactive policies. Shortage in water will soon be, if not already, another reason for an environment of political tension and civil unrest in these water scarce countries.  

Desertification was discussed as a major problem in drylands, which in fact cover an area of 41% of the world and are home to over 2 billion people.[3] With increasing desertification, there is less opportunity for local and national self-sufficiency and less crop growth, which in turn leads to food insecurity and causes labour/rural to urban migration and even cases of environmental refugees.

If desertification and the decreasing appeal of the agricultural sector are main causes in labour migration and increasing prices of staples (thus causing civil unrest), then perhaps governments should begin to create forward looking policies that focus on creating jobs through improving the agricultural sector, to improve production efficiency (with higher value crops, fit for water scarce regions as Dr. Thomas mentioned) and to reduce rural to urban migration. Further, policies should also start focusing on reviving traditional mechanisms of water collection in drier regions as these seem to be the most sustainable and environmentally-friendly, and a gateway to maintaining and improving crop growth in certain areas, thus requiring greater labour and reducing migration out of these regions.[4]

Perhaps the link between the current riots in the Middle East and problems of desertification due to global warming and water scarcity is not so obvious at first. It has not been unveiled through mainstream media, nor probed at by journalists. However, addressing issues of employment security alone will not resolve the dilemma, so long as food and water security issues remain marginalized. Unless this link is identified, a root source of instability will only be dormant before it erupts.  Priorities need to be reevaluated.

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[1] Holly Pickett. “Tunisia”. The New York Times. Jan. 19, 2011. Accessed Jan 19 2011. <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/tunisia/index.html>.

[2] Suleiman al-Khalidi. “Hundreds protest over high prices in south Jordan”. Reuters Africa. Fri Jan 14, 2011. Accessed Jan 19, 2011. <http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE70D3AQ20110114>.

[3] Bigas, H., Adeel, Z., & Shuster, C. (eds) “Seeing traditional technologies in a new light.” 2009. <http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001817/181799e.pdf>.

[4] ibid.

Legal Framework for Water Regulation in Kenya: Advances and Exclusions

The legal status of all water resources including rainwater has been in most cases that of a property. In certain African countries, water resources belong to the people, public or nation and are simply controlled by the government.[1] In Kenya however, all water resources are the property of the government (under Part II, section 3 of the Water Act, 2002 it was amended to “state” but does not signify a substantial change in the legal status).[2]

The National Water Services Strategy (NWSS) was presented by the Minister for Water and Irrigation in Kenya, in 2007, for the development, management and monitoring of water and sewerage services.[3] This is because the WSS situation had been very poor, whereby according to a 2007 report from the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, only about 57% of households at that time used water from “safe” sources; sustainable access to safe water was about 60% in urban settings and as low as 20% in settlements of the urban poor where half of the urban population lives; sustainable water access in rural areas was about 40%; and sanitation coverage was only about 50%.[4] In addition, vendors in Kenya sell water of “uncontrolled quality” which costs between 5 to 20 times the tariff applied on consumers with metered water connections.[5]  As a consequence, the impacts of poor water service and quality are mainly felt by low income consumers who cannot afford alternate mechanisms of filtering or cleaning water, or paying for metered water that may or may not be running regularly. 

The goals set by this strategy (NWSS) targeted for 2015 include reaching at least 50% of the underserved urban population and 50% of the underserved in rural areas with safe and affordable water by 2015 and sustainable access to all by 2030; increasing access to “safe and improved” basic sanitation facilities particularly for the poor to 77.5% in the urban setting and 72.5% in the rural setting; as well as providing sustainable waterborne sewage collection, treatment and disposal systems to 40% of the urban and 10% of the rural population by 2015.[6] The status of progress achieved under this strategy thus far remains to be investigated.

Upon going through the Water Act amended in 2002, along with the NWSS report, one realizes that a main route the government has taken to achieve these goals is through a focus on decentralization and delegation through public-private partnerships and “undertakerships” where water licenses are issued under the Water Act, Chapter 372 to supply water within an area.[7]

Initially in Kenya, the water management sector dates back to the National Water Master Plan of 1974 aimed at ensuring potable water availability (at a reasonable distance) to all households by 2000.[8] The task was too large to be completely and directly handled by the government, and as a result the Water Act was introduced before the year 2000. It created a separate Ministry of Water and a state corporation (National Water Conservation and Pipeline Corporation) running water supply systems on a commercial basis.[9] Since 2004, the provision of water and sanitation services has been increasingly transferred or “handed over” to the private sector as a part of the decentralization process.[10]  In rural areas where private-sector providers are few, community self-help groups remain significant despite their marginal presence under the new legal framework of the Water Act 2002 (discussed in depth in Mumma’s article).[11]

On the front of progress, according to the article “Balancing Development and Environmental Conservation and Protection of the Water Resource Base: The ‘Greening’ of Water Laws”, it is indicated that legislation through permits and licenses is the primary instrument of water use regulation and it is now progressively bridging water and environmental concerns.[12] This article acknowledges that there is an increasing trend towards “integrated water resources management”, where water protection provisions are being incorporated within legislation protecting the environment. This has been the case in Kenya, where national reserves or protected areas entail the protection of aquatic ecosystems “in order to secure ecologically sustainable development and use of the water resource” and a stipend is provided for each constituent of the reserve.[13]

Where on the one hand, there is progress in expanding and improving water regulation in Kenya, as well as integrated water resource management and environmental protection, on the other hand, a gradual trend towards decentralization and privatization of service provision has been only resolving the government’s problems in finding capital for service infrastructure, but simultaneously shifting costs of interest payment onto the consumers instead of the government. As well the nature of the legal framework marginalizes customary and traditional (group ownership) norms and rights of use of those living in rural areas who have limited access to state-based systems, and who are unable to meet the requirements for obtaining a permit for water provision (through private land tenure).[14] If consumers have to absorb the costs, services remain distant from some rural areas and permits are difficult to attain, then the rural poor are left in a battle against marginalization and exclusion in the midst of “progressive” reforms.

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[1] Hartung, H.; Patschull, C. “Framework for the Inclusion of Rainwater Harvesting in National Water Legislation in Sub-Saharan Africa”. UNEP.

[2] Mumma, Albert. “Kenya’s New Water Law: an Analysis of the Implications of Kenya’s Water Act, 2002, for the Rural Poor”. Chapter 10 in Community-based Water Law and Resource Management Reform in Developing Countries. Ed. B. van Koppen, M. Giordano, J. Butterworth. CAB International: London, 2007, p 163; and ibid Hartung, H.; Patschull, C.

[3] Government of Kenya, Ministry of Water and Irrigation. “The Water Act, 2002 (No.8 of 2002)- The National Water Services Strategy (NWSS) 2007-2015”. May 2007.

[4] Ibid, i.

[5] ibid, ii.

[6] Ibid, ii-iii.

[7] ibid Mumma, p 158.

[8] Ngigi, Ashington; Macharia, Daniel. “Kenya Water Sector Policy Overview Paper”. Enable: Energy for Water, Health, Education. May 2006. ; and ibid Mumma,  p 158.

[9] Ibid Ngigi, p 1; Mumma, p 159.

[10] Ibid, Ngigi p3; Mumma p 160.

[11] ibid Mumma, p 162.

[12] Burki, Stefano. “Balancing Development and Environmental Conservation and Protection of the Water Resource Base: The ‘Greening’ of Water Laws”. FAO Legal Papers Online #65, June 2007. Section 2, p1.

[13] ibid, Section 3.3. quoted from Kenya, Water Act (Cap 732) No 8 of 2002, articles 1 and 13(2).

[14] ibid Mumma, p 163, 164.