The session “Water Scarcity Interlinkages with Sustainable Development,” hosted at the Iraq pavilion during COP28 and facilitated by UNDP, highlighted one of the most pressing challenges facing the Arab region: water scarcity. A formidable impediment to development that extends far beyond mere water availability, and has profound implications for food and social security, as well as for biodiversity. 

Iraq exemplifies the severity of this crisis. The country is experiencing a staggering loss of 8-12 million cubic meters of surface water annually. The Mesopotamian marshlands, a crucial ecological and cultural region, have suffered a drastic reduction in water availability, losing almost 78% of their water since 1973. This stark reality underscores the multifaceted nature of the water scarcity challenge, where environmental degradation intertwines with social and economic consequences.

The experts shared various experiences from Arab countries painting a diverse yet uniformly challenging picture of the water sector. For instance, Libya's recent catastrophic dam breaks due to extreme rainfall events (600mm within 12 hours for a region receiving an average of 200mm per year) leading to the loss of over 25 000 lives, Egypt's struggles with almost full dependency on transboundary water supply, and Jordan's advanced diversification of water sources by the reuse of over 95% of its wastewater but yet still grappling less than 60l per capita per day of water, depict an already dire picture that will only get worse with the current climate change trend.