Chapter 3: Outlooks and Emerging Issues
• SDG target 6.4 calls for improving water-use efficiency to moderate the severe water scarcity that grips most of West Asia. Most of the region’s countries have emphasized water-use efficiency in their national development plans. However, wasteful use of water is still rampant in the region, particularly in the agricultural sector.
• SDG target 6.5 calls for adopting integrated water resource management for addressing water issues. It particularly draws attention to transboundary cooperation, a central issue for West Asia since most of its renewable water originates in Turkey and Iran. An equally challenging situation is facing the OPT, as most of their sources of water are under Israeli control.
• Water scarcity in West Asia is compounded by deterioration in water quality as a result of widespread pollution of water resources by industrial, agricultural and urban uses.
• SDG target 6.3 points to effective measures that would significantly reduce water pollution. Investment in wastewater treatment and reuse has already yielded great benefits to many West Asian countries including Jordan and the GCC countries. Other countries in the region could follow suit.
• SDG target 2.4 addresses the major issues facing agriculture in West Asia. The sector is already under severe stress from chronic scarcity of water and land resources, compounded by competition for these resources with rapidly growing urban populations. Climate change is projected to severely decrease precipitation and increase the duration of dry periods.
• One of the pressing issues that has arisen from the recent conflict and is addressed by SDG target 11.4 is the need to take a proactive approach to safeguard the archaeological monuments of the region – some dating back to the earliest human civilisations. Several sites designated by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as World Heritage Sites, have been deliberately destroyed by fanatical militant groups, with looted antiquities from Iraq and Syria smuggled out of the region and sold to illegal traders.
• West Asia is expected to be one of the regions most affected by climate change. As indicated earlier, climate change is expected to dramatically reduce precipitation levels in the region and increase evapotranspiration levels, which will further reduce renewable water resources. SDG target 13.3 emphasizes the use of education, awareness raising and governance in addressing climate change.
•
Air quality is becoming a main concern in several West Asian cities as a result of the rapid rise in car ownership and poor public transport. SDG target 11.6 calls for reducing the adverse impacts of air pollution. Section 3.6.2 addresses air quality issues in the region.
• The issue of waste management is addressed by SDG target 12.5. This explicitly calls for the adoption of integrated waste management principles that emphasize prevention, reduction, reuse and recycling. This is discussed in more detail in Section 3.6.6.
• SDG target 9.5 highlights the serious deficiency in scientific research and innovation in developing countries including those of West Asia. The region has one of the world’s lowest expenditures on research and development per unit of GDP.
3.5.2 Air
There is evidence that air quality in some areas of West Asia is deteriorating rapidly, being under continuous anthropogenic pressure from increasing population, urbanization, energy production and other polluting industries (UNEP et al. 2010). The ambitious economic development in West Asia has been a driver of environmental degradation, including air pollution. However, there are also natural driving forces that contribute to the problem, namely dust and sandstorms (UNEP et al. 2010). The decreased quality of air causes a number of serious respiratory diseases that can lead to premature death (UNEP et al. 2010). Efforts to monitor air pollution appeared as early as the 1980s in West Asia with Kuwait establishing eight air- monitoring stations in 1984 (UNEP et al. 2010). In addition, National Cleaner Production Centres have been established in several West Asian countries, for example Lebanon and some GCC countries, to try and reduce the negative impact
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