The Water-Energy-Food Nexus in the Middle East and North Africa
Routledge Special Issues on Water Policy and Governance Series

This book discusses key issues concerning water, energy and food in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It provides an interdisciplinary account of current developments in the most water-scarce and conflict-torn region in the world. Key analysts on MENA water, agriculture and energy affairs have been drawn together to compile one of the first edited volumes dedicated to the crucial role of water, energy and food security in the 21st century MENA region. It will be of interest to decision-makers, analysts and students of the future of the Middle East from a broad range of disciplines including the physical and social sciences. This book was previously published as a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.

1. The water – food – energy nexus: an introduction to nexus concepts and some conceptual and operational problems 2. Financial challenges of the nexus: pathways for investment in water, energy and agriculture in the Arab world 3. Food-water security and virtual water trade in the Middle East and North Africa 4. Rapid assessment of the water – energy – food – climate nexus in six selected basins of North Africa and West Asia undergoing transitions and scarcity threats 5. The nexus as a political commodity: agricultural development, water policy and elite rivalry in Egypt 6. Nexus meets crisis: a review of conflict, natural resources and the humanitarian response in Darfur with reference to the water – energy – food nexus 7. To what end? Drip irrigation and the water – energy – food nexus in Morocco 8. Virtual-water content of agricultural production and food trade balance of Tunisia 9. Energy cost of irrigation policy in Morocco: a social accounting matrix assessment 10. Impact of the Syrian conflict on irrigated agriculture in the Orontes Basin 11. Climate change and food-water supply from Africa’s drylands: local impacts and teleconnections through global commodity flows 12. Towards a water – energy – food nexus policy: realizing the blue and green virtual water of agriculture in Jordan

Martin Keulertz is a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at Purdue University. His research centres around the politics of water and food management in the MENA region.

Eckart Woertz is a senior research fellow at the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs. His previous work has been on Gulf financial markets, food security and oil politics.