8. Water-Energy-Food Security Nexus in the Arab Region: Thoughts and Policy Options

The Arab Region is under considerable water stress. It is also heavily reliant on imported food. The region has countries with considerable energy exports mixed in with those who are of differing degrees of reliance on imported energy. The Arab Region is one that has significant problems with energy, water, and food waste. It is also a place where energy, water, and food subsidies have added much to the resource and economic stresses of many countries. Energy, water, and food show not only stress today, but potentially much greater stresses in the future. Energy, water, and food can be considered, and policies developed about their use and development, separately. However, because of the connections between these three via the water-energy-food nexus and via the water footprints of food and energy systems and the energy footprints of water and food systems, as well as other indirect and direct connections among them, policies need to be integrated and coordinated across these three. There is much discussion of integrated water policies in the region, but the region needs to go further and consider integrated water-energy-energy-food nexus policies with nexus thinking. To develop these changes educational, outreach, training, investment, and other programs need to be developed in the region to help lead the people and their leaders to a better future. Direct cash payments and other softening tools need to be implemented to mitigate the effects of the phasing out of the massive subsidies and other distortions within the water-energy-food nexus that would otherwise lead the region to resource, economic, and political disasters. Reason and moderation will need to be defining characteristics of these policy changes. Otherwise, the shocks of change could backfire on an already unstable region. If the water-energy-food nexus policies are not developed properly, in the long run, there could be extreme resource stresses in the region beyond what have been seen to date. These resource stresses could have global implications in increased energy insecurity, increased terrorism, and increased migration from the region to more stable, more economically developed and more resource rich areas.