LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - With dusty desert sprawled across the region, Middle Eastern and north African nations must prepare better for drought as water shortages look set to worsen, the United Nations said on Friday. Over the past 40 years, droughts have become longer and more frequent in the region, where fresh water resources are among the world’s lowest, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The report recommended growing crops that need less water, using more water-efficient irrigation systems, or lowering the amount of livestock to prevent over-grazing. Some villages in southwest Morocco on the edge of the Sahara desert have also been using a fog collection project to turn mist into water to tackle water shortages. Water scarcity already affects more than 40 percent of the world’s population, according to the U.N.’s 2018 World Water Development Report.

Source: The North Africa Journal June 15, 2018 08:26 UTC