Foreword
This report on groundwater governance in MENA is part of a series of five regional reports arising from a research initiative undertaken by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and funded by USAID aiming to address the challenges posed by the unsustainable use of groundwater in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region (Figure 1). Groundwater over-abstraction is a phenomenon threatening the sustainable economic and social development of the countries on the southern side of the Mediterranean and the control and management of over-abstraction has become a clear challenge for policy-makers, managers and academics in the region. This broader research exercise is aimed at presenting different governance problems and challenges that exist around the world regarding groundwater and inform potential future management and policy pathways in the MENA region.
The reason for this report on groundwater governance in MENA arises out of the necessity to examine, at various scales, existing cases of groundwater regulation and management so that policy discussions, effective solutions, and mitigation measures to the groundwater crisis may be found. This report analyses the different policy and regulatory experiences in groundwater management found in the MENA so that relevant policy and management lessons can be drawn from these cases. The countries reviewed in this report are Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya,
Egypt, Sudan, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Turkey, and Iran.
The report analyses, through a political, regulatory, and historical lens, the different groundwater regulatory tools, reflecting on the different laws, regulations, community actions, and institutional structures found in the different countries in order to curb groundwater overabstraction.
Although this report does not attempt to be exhaustive as it is based on existing and accessible literature, it aims to go further than what has been presented until now and address the intrinsic challenges faced by current groundwater policies whilst offering a number of analytical and factual elements on groundwater governance presented in an original way. Semi-arid and arid countries are understandably more likely to (over)exploit their groundwater resources and the lessons drawn from the situation in arid areas with different political economies, can potentially be very relevant for the countries of the MENA region as they may indicate potential solutions or -more often than not- flag the dangers or irrelevance of certain standardized, or seemingly desirable, policies. Thus, the examples studied here can provide a deeper understanding of the challenges the MENA region faces when it comes to reducing groundwater abstraction, echoing some of the attempts to regulate groundwater abstraction made by states in the region.
The results and failures faced by governments and communities can also represent relevant insights when it comes to enforcing regulation or understanding legal barriers to policy implementation, all relevant and important lessons for other countries. Reflecting on a wealth of background stories and experiences will also provide a richer understanding and diversity of insights to these problems, what worked and did not work. The gravity and complexity of the situation require a systematic and wide-ranging approach building on existing knowledge and practices in and beyond the region, so that innovations in groundwater regulation and legislation can be found and the groundwater depletion trend averted.