The Economics of Water Scarcity in the Middle East and North Africa : Institutional Solutions

• Autore: de Waal Dominick
• Pubblicazione: Washington, D. C. : , : World Bank Publications, , 2023; ©2023
• Edizione: 1st ed.
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (229 pages)
• Disciplina: 306.2
• Soggetto topico: Political culture - Africa, North; Political culture - Middle East; Water resources development - Government policy - Africa, North
• Altri autori: KhemaniStuti BaroneAndrea BorgomeoEdoardo
• Nota di contenuto: Front Cover -- Contents -- Foreword -- Main Messages -- Acknowledgments -- About the Authors -- 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 -- Introduction -- What is the price of water? -- Identifying reform directions using an economic lens -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 2 Middle East and North Africa: Diversity of Economic and Hydrological Context -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 3 Supply-Side Institutions That Build Large Infrastructure but Fail to Reduce Water Stress -- Origins and evolution of water institutions in the Middle East and North Africa -- Industrial-scale expansion of water-related infrastructure -- Signs of distress in managing supply-side infrastructure -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 4 Demand-Side Behavior That Challenges States' Ability to Raise Finance and Regulate Water -- Drivers of water demand -- How the two main consumptive uses of water-irrigated agriculture and cities-interact and shape long-term financing options -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 5 Externalities: Status and Trends of Water Depletion and Pollution -- Identification of externalities is a first step toward valuing water -- Water depletion -- Pollution of freshwater and marine resources -- compound effects of water-related externalities -- Hidden costs of water-related externalities -- Notes -- References -- 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 -- Introduction -- The framework -- Applying the framework to understand the state's tariff and revenue-raising capacity to invest in water. ; Applying the framework to understand quantity regulations to conserve water as a resource -- Applying the framework to understand the performance of water utilities -- Relationship between legitimacy and trust: applying the link across the three principal-agent relationships -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 7 Why Policy Has Focused on Supply-Side Investments and Ignored Demand-Side Problems of Overusing and Polluting Water -- Introduction -- Resolving trade-offs: how formal institutional setups fail to resolve citizens' conflicting water demands -- Demand-side interventions in agricultural water management -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 8 Applying the Framework to Understand Why Utilities Are Distressed and Households Receive Poor Service -- Introduction -- Regulatory relationship between the state and WSS utilities -- Problem of performance of WSS utilities -- Notes -- References -- 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 -- Introduction -- Legitimacy of tariffs -- Trust in public utilities and regulatory agencies -- Role of local political contestation -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 10 Building Trusted and Creditworthy Utilities That Deliver Services and Attract Long-Term Financing -- Introduction -- Relationship between "hard" infrastructure and "soft" management policies -- Delegation of greater autonomy and discretion to utility managers and staff -- Technical independence of regulators -- Structure of water tariffs -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 11 Approach to Institutional Reforms in Water Management and Allocation -- Introduction -- Tension between the science behind the water balance and the political process of setting limits. ; Empowering local leaders to manage water allocation decisions and trade-offs -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 12 Communication as a Necessary Complement to Water Policy Reforms -- Introduction -- Using communication to shift beliefs and expectations -- The role of local political leaders in winning public acceptance and legitimacy for reducing water consumption -- Using national water strategies to reshape norms of water allocation and use -- Notes -- References -- Appendix: Institutions Involved in Developing Supply-Side Infrastructure Versus Institutions Operating and Maintaining Infrastructure -- Glossary -- Box -- Box 6.1 Definitions of "legitimacy" and "trust" from economics and game theory research -- Figures -- Figure 2.1 Renewable water resources per capita per year, by economy, 2017 -- Figure 2.2 Renewable water resources per person per year, Middle East and North Africa, 2018 -- Figure 2.3 Urban population share of water withdrawals versus per capita water withdrawals, Middle East and North Africa -- Figure 2.4 Share of nonconventional water in total water withdrawals, Middle East and North Africa -- Figure 2.5 Rural population share versus renewable water resources per capita -- Figure 2.6 Sustainability of water withdrawals in the Middle East and North Africa, by source -- Figure 3.1 Total freshwater capacity and withdrawals in the Middle East and North Africa, 1960-2020 -- Figure 3.2 Desalination and reuse capacity in the Middle East and North Africa, 1960-2020 -- Figure 3.3 Global share of desalinated water capacity, 2021 -- Figure 3.4 Water and sewer network connections in the Middle East and North Africa, 2000-17 -- Figure 3.5 Change in access to piped water and sewage connections, Middle East and North Africa, 2000-17 -- Figure 3.6 Expansion of irrigated area across the Middle East and North Africa and area irrigated, 1997-2017. ; Figure 3.7 Expansion of irrigated area, by economy, 2017 -- Figure 3.8 Operating cost recovery ratio for selected utilities and years across the Middle East and North Africa -- Figure 3.9 Nonrevenue water of selected utilities in the Middle East and North Africa -- Figure 4.1 Water withdrawals, by sector and economy -- Figure 4.2 Gross agricultural output, by economy, 1961-2018 -- Figure 4.3 Irrigation water productivity, by economy -- Figure 4.4 Irrigation water productivity and per capita agricultural water withdrawals, by economy -- Figure 4.5 Domestic production and use of fruits and vegetables across the Middle East and North Africa, 1961-2013 -- Figure 4.6 Domestic production and use of cereals across the Middle East and North Africa, 1961-2013 -- Figure 4.7 Agriculture sector's share of GDP and total employment in countries with rural populations over 10 million -- Figure 4.8 Proportion of total water withdrawals allocated to agriculture and relative contributions to GDP of irrigated and rainfed agriculture, 2018 -- Figure 4.9 Domestic water withdrawal, by country grouping and quartile of the distribution -- Figure 4.10 Higher tariffs, lower water withdrawals per capita -- Figure 4.11 Cost of 100 liters per capita per day relative to income consumption quintile, by economy -- Figure 4.12 Primary source of drinking water, circa 2000 and circa 2015 -- Figure 5.1 Examples of nested sets of negative externalities in the Middle East and North Africa -- Figure 5.2 Change in the extent of water-related ecosystems, 2001-05 to 2016 -- Figure 5.3 Water table level and annual precipitation at Tel Hadya Research Station, Aleppo, Syrian Arab Republic, 1984-2010 -- Figure 5.4 Safely treated wastewater flows from households -- Figure 5.5 Iraq: Households' main source of drinking water, by governorate. ; Figure 5.6 Economic losses from inadequate water supply and sanitation -- Figure 5.7 Mortality rate attributed to exposure to unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene services, 2016 -- Figure 5.8 Deaths caused by diarrhea in children younger than age five, 2017 -- Figure 6.1 Principal-agent relationships of government -- Figure 7.1 Fundamental principal-agent relationships of the common pool resource problem -- Figure 7.2 National Water Authority Board of Israel -- Figure 7.3 Steps along the pathway to water conservation policies and water reallocation within economies -- Figure 7.4 The unavoidable process of converting users into legal or illegal users when establishing formal water rights and setting explicit legal limits to withdrawals -- Figure 7.5 The spectrum of types of water rights from public to private -- Figure 7.6 Relative administrate burden of legal use regimes established in different countries -- Figure 8.1 Principal-agent relationships of water supply and sanitation utilities -- Figure 8.2 Public-private partnership investment projects in water and sanitation services, 1990-2020 -- Figure 9.1 Social unrest in Jordan, 2016-21 -- Figure 9.2 People in MENA say that "fighting rising prices" is among their top two priorities -- Figure 9.3 Respondents saying that government performance is "very bad," the highest category of disapproval -- Figure 9.4 People's responses to a question about whether cheating on taxes is justifiable -- Figure 9.5 Comparing the "justifiability" of various actions, MENA and non-MENA countries -- Figure 9.6 How labor market conditions feature in social unrest in the Arab Republic of Egypt and Morocco, 2016-21 -- Figure 9.7 Participation in local and national elections -- Figure 9.8 People's views of the importance of honest elections. ; Figure 9.9 Malpractice in elections: Respondents answering that bad practices occur during elections "very often" or "fairly often".
• Sommario/riassunto: 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.
• Titolo autorizzato: The Economics of Water Scarcity in the Middle East and North Africa
• ISBN: 1-4648-1740-5
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Record Nr.: 9910838329203321
• Lo trovi qui: Univ. Federico II