The situation will only intensify as climate change speeds up and the demands of urbanisation and industrial development put more pressure on subterranean acquifers formed hundreds of thousands of years ago, now tapped almost dry. 

Almost 85 per cent of the water used in the MENA region is for irrigating agricultural land. And the food produced is insufficient. More than half the calories consumed in the region are from food imports, leaving the region vulnerable to global prices and supply chains. 

The balance between feeding the population and maintaining water resources is not a new conundrum. The practice of evaporating brackish or salt water and condensing vapour into freshwater for domestic and agricultural use can be traced to Alexandria and Palestine two thousand years ago. Modern desalination technologies are sophisticated but expensive and energy intensive...

Read full article: https://www.natureasia.com/en/nmiddleeast/article/10.1038/nmiddleeast.2017.169