Title The economics of water scarcity in the Middle East and North Africa : institutional solutions / Dominick de Waal, Stuti Khemani, Andrea Barone, Edoardo Borgomeo

Published Washington, DC : World Bank Group, [2023]

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Description 1 online resource (xxxiii, 190 pages) : color illustrations, color maps Contents Executive Summary -- Abbreviations -- Part I The Status Quo Institutions That Allocate Water -- Chapter 1 An Economic View of Water Scarcity: The Inescapable Role of the State in Allocating Water -- Chapter 2 Middle East and North Africa: Diversity of Economic and Hydrological Context -- Chapter 3 Supply-Side Institutions That Build Large Infrastructure but Fail to Reduce Water Stress -- Chapter 4 Demand-Side Behavior That Challenges States' Ability to Raise Finance and Regulate Water -- Chapter 5 Externalities: Status and Trends of Water Depletion and Pollution -- Part II Understanding Why Status Quo Institutions Produce Outcomes That Endanger Water Security and Well-Being -- Chapter 6 Economic Framework to Understand How State Institutions Function in Allocating, Managing, and Investing in Water -- Chapter 7 Why Policy Has Focused on Supply-Side Investments and Ignored Demand-Side Problems of Overusing and Polluting Water -- Chapter 8 Applying the Framework to Understand Why Utilities Are Distressed and Households Receive Poor Service -- Part III Policy Ideas for the Leaders and People of MENA to Defuse Water Crises and Transform Their Economies -- Chapter 9 The Fundamental Importance of Informal Institutions of Legitimacy and Trust -- Chapter 10 Building Trusted and Creditworthy Utilities That Deliver Services and Attract Long-Term Financing -- Chapter 11 Approach to Institutional Reforms in Water Management and Allocation -- Chapter 12 Communication as a Necessary Complement to Water Policy Reforms -- Appendix Institutions Involved in Developing Supply-Side Infrastructure Versus Institutions Operating and Maintaining Infrastructure Summary Despite massive infrastructure investments, countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region continue to face unprecedented water scarcity due to climate change, population growth, and socioeconomic development. Current policy regimes for managing water across competing needs are primarily determined by state control of large infrastructure. Policy makers across the region understand the unsustainability of water allocations and that increasing investments in new infrastructure and technologies to increase water supply place a growing financial burden on governments. However, standard solutions for demand management-- reallocating water to higher value uses, reducing waste, and increasing tariffs-- pose difficult political dilemmas that, more often than not, are left unresolved. Without institutional reform, the region will likely remain in water distress even with increased financing for water sector infrastructure. This report draws on the tools of public economics to address two crucial challenges facing states in MENA: lack of legitimacy and trust. Evidence from the World Values Survey shows that people in the region believe that a key role of government is to keep prices down and that governments are reluctant to raise tariffs because of the risk of widespread protests. Instead of avoiding the 'politically sensitive' issue of water scarcity, this report argues that reform leaders and their external partners can reform national water institutions and draw on local political contestation to establish a new social contract. The crisis and emotive power of water in the region can be used to bolster legitimacy and trust and build a sustainable, inclusive, thriving economy that is resilient to climate change Bibliography Includes bibliographical references Notes Description based on resource, viewed July 25, 2023 Subject Water-supply -- Government policy -- Middle East Water-supply -- Government policy -- Africa, North Water resources development -- Government policy -- Middle East Water resources development -- Government policy -- Africa, North Political culture -- Middle East Political culture -- Africa, North Political culture Water resources development -- Government policy Water-supply -- Government policy Middle East North Africa Form Electronic book Author Khemani, Stuti, author. Barone, Andrea, author Borgomeo, Edoardo, 1989- author. ISBN 9781464817403 1464817405

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