Introduction

Water helped make the Fertile Crescent fertile, but the area is now among the most water-poor in the world. Growing populations and increasingly intensive agriculture regularly outstrip the yields of rivers and rainfalls and deplete ancient aquifers.

The region’s wealth and abundance were legendary in antiquity, but today, the Middle East faces similar pressures to those found throughout the developing world. Growing urban populations strain infra-structure, create unprecedented amounts of waste, and consume growing amounts of electricity required for transportation, heating and cooling, industrial production, and more.

This is the Introduction section of Sustainable States: Environment, Governance, and the Future of the Middle East. Please click here for the full report.