Groundwater Resources

Acknowledging academic research on water and conflict is largely focused on surface waters in shared river basins, this chapter is to provides insights into some of the political dimensions of groundwater and its use and overuse in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. First, it provides an overview of current knowledge of groundwater resources, highlighting the rapid transformation in the way groundwater data and information is collected and shared outside of traditional official channels. Next, the chapter discusses the domestic political implications of groundwater overuse for food security and food price stability, and the additional challenges created when aquifers, or the rivers which feed them, are transboundary in nature. While the chapter recognizes the possibilities for technology to provide new data and information for groundwater decision making, it also acknowledges that groundwater governance and management is problematic worldwide. The chapter thus ends not with a vague call for “better” groundwater governance, policy, and management, but rather explores options for reducing the negative impacts of continued overuse.