With a
lot of attention given to the situation in Sub-Saharan Africa, it was
interesting to come across this article looking at the Middle East and North
Africa (MENA) region. So here’s a quick little post looking at an issue this
article got me thinking about.
The focus
of my blog remains on Africa, but the relationship between North
Africa and the Middle East is an important one and shouldn't be
ignored.
North Africa
presents a picture that in many ways is quite different to much of Sub-Saharan
Africa. There is far greater ethnic homogeneity in the region and the GDP per
capita of these countries (especially along the Mediterranean) is generally higher. Over the last few decades, the
“War on Terror” and the “Arab Spring” have brought considerable foreign
interest and engagement across the MENA.
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| Ethnicity map of Africa |
But the
situation in the Middle East is highly volatile. Over this century, the place
of oil in society is likely to change. And the growth of China is increasingly
drawing the attention of the “West”. Foreign involvement in the Middle East is
therefore likely to change, and the ambitions and finances of the Middle East
will change with it.
These
movements in the coming future should not be ignored when considering the water
situation in North Africa. New alliances may be forged, both within the MENA
and in other parts of the world. Whether North Africa looks south towards other
African countries will have serious implications for water management.
Wider
geopolitical movements and trends need to be considered when looking at the
future of water management schemes. I’m not suggesting that we must predict the
future, but we can’t be ignorant of the fact that change can and will happen.
Hopefully in the weeks to come I can explore this issue further and see what
the literature has to offer.
I think a post dealing with political issues and relationships in regard to water among African countries would also be interesting, as well as looking at inter-continental relationships as you have done here.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment - definitely want to look into this further!
DeleteThe North African discussion is interesting in so far as the resource - predominantly groundwater is fossil-age and non-renewable. As such, water is mined like oil and the dynamics and discussion of water use are independent of climate change and the concept of sustainability.
ReplyDeleteHello! As you mentioned new alliances being forged both within MENA and globally, you may be interested in looking into how large-scale Chinese investment in North Africa, especially in Egypt and Sudan could change geopolitics in the region.
ReplyDeleteHi Yuan, thank you for the suggestion! I am indeed looking into Chinese investment at the moment as part of the larger question of land aquisitions. Hopefully I get time to look at the Egyptian and Sudanese examples as well.
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