975 disputes over river waters erupted in the Middle East and North Africa in the period between 1948 and 2008, according to a report by the World Bank.
Water conflicts in MENA concern three major river basins: the Jordan River Basin, the Tigris-Euphrates River Basin, and the Nile River Basin.
56 percent of these disputes were settled with cooperation and understanding, leading the report to call for the collaborative approach to be maintained and strengthened, as the impacts of climate change intensify.
Released earlier this week, the report provided the very first global assessment of the impact of water on migration, based on an analysis of the largest set on internal migration.
In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), where 60 percent of the population lives in water-stressed areas, the report declares that water already constitutes one of the main vulnerabilities faced by people living in the region.
“As the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic continues, climate change is fueling water challenges around the world, which will hit developing countries hardest,” World Bank Managing Director for Development Policy and Partnerships Mari Pangestu said.
The World Bank document stated that the increase in the global migration movement is linked in a proportion of 10 percent to the lack of water, noting that today there are more than one billion migrants around the world.
The report shows that the lack of water supply, rather than its abundance, has the greatest impact on migration, pointing out that in conflict-affected regions, such as the Middle East and North Africa, there are other levels of complexity, when conflicts and unemployment are among the driving forces of migration.
The region is the most water-scarce region in the world, adding that water is often a casualty of conflicts and not a reason for migration.
Water infrastructure facilities are often targeted during conflicts, depriving hundreds of thousands of people of this basic resource of life.
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