Climate Change and Water Scarcity in the Middle East: A Transitional Approach

This book considers what is needed for water, sanitation, and hygiene services (WASH) in the Middle East to adapt to the growing challenges of climate change.

Looking across the region’s humanitarian and development sectors, the authors advocate for a transformative approach towards more innovative, integrated, and localized programming. COVID-19 was a wake-up call, exposing how quickly global humanitarian needs can change. Climate change is already causing devastation around the world, and the impacts are often most particularly felt through water, which is linked to drought, famine, and conflict, amongst other problems. This book argues that there is currently a window of opportunity for WASH practitioners to develop broader, multi-sectoral experience, and new hard and soft skills to meet these challenges. Bringing together a comprehensive set of clear, modern case studies from Iraq, Yemen and Palestine, this book considers the potential of new innovations and technologies, and analyzes the institutional, financial, technical, environmental, and socio-cultural considerations for creating sustainable WASH services in transition. The book concludes by outlining practical actions for both humanitarian and development organizations at the national, regional, and global level, to support effective integrated and transitional WASH programming in the future.

Emphasizing the urgent need for a Humanitarian-Development-Peace nexus approach, this book will be perfect for WASH practitioners looking for examples of best practice, as well as for researchers and students across international development and humanitarian studies courses as they discuss the future of the WASH field.

Marielle Snel is a Senior Global Humanitarian WASH Advisor for Save the Children International at the regional Middle East/Eastern Europe office based in Amman, Jordan. She has 25 years of WASH experience in designing, implementing, researching, and publishing around contemporary issues including the humanitarian-development-peace WASH nexus, conflict, COVID and climate change over the humanitarian, transitional, and development divide.

Nikolas Sorensen is a humanitarian and development practitioner and researcher who has consulted with organizations like Save the Children US and Plan International. He has previously published works on the humanitarian-development-peace WASH nexus, specifically looking at the challenges of climate change, COVID-19, and conflict.

Reed Power is a humanitarian and development practitioner, most recently working as a Senior Program Officer at World Vision International, based in Iraq. His experience has included a strong focus on WASH linked to climate change and the humanitarian-development-peace WASH nexus.