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1. The problem of water in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)

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Title: 1. The problem of water in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)


1
1. The problem of water in the Middle East and
North Africa (MENA)
2
MENA is most water-scarce region, and demand is
growing
Available renewable water resources have fallen
from 4,000 m3 per person per year in 1950 to
1,000 today and will fall to 550 by 2050
3
Important to recognize the regions progress --
technical institutional innovations
  • Major investment in infrastructure
  • Water storage
  • Huge expansion of services 80 WSS coverage
    projected to achieve MDGs
  • Technical innovation (desalination, wastewater
    re-use)
  • Institutional innovation
  • Improving efficiency of utilities
  • Demand management
  • Devolving responsibility for managing local
    systems to communities
  • River basin / groundwater management

4
But major management challenges remain
  • Use already exceeds renewable supplies
  • Local level conflicts are frequent

5
Countries rely on non-renewable water and trade
to fill the gaps
6
Climate variability is projected to exacerbate
aridity in the future
7
Many countries using both public money and water
inefficiently
Lots of water stored
But not all used well
Share of freshwater resources stored in dams
8
2. Why are water reforms not high in the
political agenda?
9
Accounting has not adequately captured the costs
of degradation
10
Environmental degradation is composed of many
factors
11
Over-extraction of groundwater reduces a
countrys savings
Groundwater not being converted Into other forms
of capital in equal amounts
12
Intermittent supply of urban water has imposed
costs to society
  • Intermittent supplies at different times of the
    year in Jordan, Yemen, West Bank, Gaza, Algeria,
    Saudi Arabia
  • Done because of deferred maintenance, and as a
    rationing tool
  • Costs of coping with intermittent supply for
    households 150 monthly utility bill
  • Increase OM costs for the utility by 40-50

13
3. The potential solution?
14
MNA countries now need to move to a new paradigm
of flexible allocation
Overall demand management
More value per drop
Allocative efficiency
More use per drop
Water services End-use efficiency
Services
More water
Supply management
Engineering
15
Allocation can be by price or by quantity
  • Price does not work well to reduce overall water
    demand
  • Studies indicate that to affect consumption, the
    price of irrigation water (85 of consumption)
    would have to rise by more than 5 times cost of
    providing service politically impossible
  • Price does regulate domestic water consumption
    but this is more a financial issue for the
    utility
  • Therefore, some sort of quantity restriction is
    necessary
  • If the allocations are done through water rights,
    those rights can be traded between users

16
To achieve flexible allocation, countries have to
address three types of scarcity
  • 1) Scarcity of resources
  • Storing, diverting and transferring water,
    expanding water services. Primarily a technical
    challenge
  • 2) Scarcity of organizational capacity
  • Strong organizations established to plan water
    management and deliver services to people in the
    1970s and 1980s. Viewed as a management challenge
  • 3) Scarcity of external accountability
  • Rules to ensure that service providers are
    accountable to their users and government
    agencies to their constituents. Primarily a
    governance challenge requiring transparency and
    inclusivity

17
Mechanisms of public accountability form a bridge
between citizens and government
information
voice
justice
18
Countries with better accountability deliver
better services
  • Increased participation provides information
    necessary for making good decisions and providing
    good services
  • Government and service providers must see
    consequences of actions
  • Populations must be able to evaluate where public
    money is spent

19
The Challenge for Water Accounting
Produced capital
Historical investment data Share of produced assets in total wealth is constant across income groups
AFP Fund not utilized for stated objectives


Country-level data on physical stocks Estimates of natural resource rents based on world prices and local costs Share of natural capital in total wealth falls with income, and of intangible assets rises


20
(No Transcript)
21
Intangible capital is facilitated by external
accountability mechanisms
  • External accountability has two challenges for
    accounting
  • How can structure of laws, conventions and
    financing rules be measured?
  • How can information uncertainty be captured as a
    cost?

Indicators of External Accountability
22
Summing Up Measuring external accountability the
new frontier
Citizens Information Payment for services Self-regulation, community and traditional dispute resolution
Government Information Laws Cost-recovery, public budgeting Inspections, courts
Rules for public disclosure Financing Enforcement / Dispute resolution
23
Political drivers of water reform are changing
accounting innovations help
Water Outcomes
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