As the continent feels the heat of climate change, it is time it adopts measures to better manage its water and land to build greater resilience to droughts Despite the drought-prone Near East and North Africa facing hoards of problems like water scarcity, degraded land and fragile soil, the region has not made a fundamental shift from recovering from drought to trying to be not susceptible to one.
“Climate change is expected to affect all the countries.
Evidence suggests that rainfall patterns have shifted in terms of timing, duration, and intensity – all of which pose challenges to land users, hydro-power corporations, industry, and urban centres,” says an FAO report published on Monday.
But, countries in this region are just focussing on disaster relief, which includes measures like ensuring drinking water supplies, providing subsidies for irrigation equipment and well drilling, providing feed to safeguard livestock, restructuring farmer debts, creating jobs in rural areas, and implementing public awareness campaigns.
The study says that these “well-meant” actions “can have unforeseen consequences”.
“Providing livestock feed, for example, can stop nomads from moving to places that are less stressed causing over-grazing in areas, particularly around the larger conurbations.
“Many countries see long-term development of water resources as being proactive in mitigating drought, but poor planning can actually exacerbate the impacts of drought and the missed opportunities to attenuate them,” says the UN wing.
“Current agricultural policies are leading to increasing land degradation and impoverishment and need to be re-examined in the light of drought mitigation,” the report highlights.
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