By Newsroom America Staff at(Newsroom America) -- Accessible fresh water in North Africa and the Middle East has fallen by two-thirds over the past 40 years, posing a huge challenge requiring "an urgent and massive response," the head of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)said. Access to water is a fundamental need for food security, human health and agriculture, and sustainable water use for agriculture requires transforming food systems and diets, said Jose Graziano da Silva, the Director-General of the FAO. Moreover, “competition between water-usage sectors will only intensify in the future between agriculture, energy, industrial production and household needs,” he said. Mr. Graziano da Silva attended a high-level meeting on FAO's collaboration with Egypt on the Ƈ.5 million feddan initiative,' the Government's plan to reclaim eventually up to two million hectares of desert land for agricultural and other uses. Policy advice and best practice ideas on the governance of irrigation schemes is a key offering in FAO's Near East and North Africa Water Scarcity Initiative, backed now by a network of more than 30 national and international organizations.

Source: The North Africa Journal March 09, 2017 20:48 UTC