It is estimated that the amount of water in Yemen required during the next decade to meet the growing demand will be about 4.5 billion cubic metres (BCM). The water deficit in 2000 was 700 million cubic metres (MCM), rose to 900 MCM in 2010 and is expected to reach 2,500 MCM in 2025.

Morocco’s water resources are under increasing pressure from population and industrial growth, irrigated agriculture, urbanization, tourism, climate change, overexploitation of aquifers and deteriorating water quality.

About 98% of Egypt’s fresh water resources originate outside of its borders, such as the Nile River and groundwater aquifers. Indeed, the Nile River provides the country with some 93% of its water requirements

The Sultanate of Oman is holding a strategically important position at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. The population of Oman is 4.43 million (2016).

The limited availability of fresh water in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has for decades presented a major challenge to the Gulf state’s government and people.

Water resources in the UAE can be classified into two main categories: conventional, such as surface water (including aflaj water systems, springs and dams) and groundwater (shallow and deep aquifers), and non-conventional, such as desalinated water, treated wastewater and cloud seeding.

In 2016, Fanack, Land Life Company (LLC) and the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) initiated a pilot project to bring the innovative COCOON planting technology to Palestine.

Iran faces major challenges in securing water and food for its growing population. These challenges result from both the country’s semi-arid climate and declining precipitation over the past decade.

The total long-term annual renewable water resources are estimated at 120BCM, of which about 78BCM go to surface run-off, and groundwater recharge is estimated at about 42BCM per annum, 11BCM by qanats (underground water supply systems) and springs, plus 31BCM by wells.

Sustainable water resource management in Iraq has no shortage of challenges. Some of Iraq’s water hardships, like seasonal floods and droughts, occur naturally. Many of the most disruptive and destructive problems are, however, man-made: water infrastructure debilitated from decades of war and neglect; inefficient and outdated agricultural practices; rapid population growth and urbanization; competing water management approaches within transboundary river systems; and the looming crisis of climate change. The government of Iraq has plans to address the situation but it remains to be seen whether major reform will transpire.