Water resources in arid and semi-arid regions face the greatest pressure to meet growing needs. The Middle East is in fact ‘the most concentrated region of (water) scarcity in the world and the most vulnerable to water shortages’. The problem is further compounded when one considers demand and supply in the context of future socioeconomic and natural changes that may occur such as population growth, urbanization and climate change.

The lack of water resources and the increase in consumption give this resource a strategic quality that has contributed to conflict in the region. The Middle East is characterized as water stressed, increasingly suffering from water shortages and environmental pollution. The last decades have witnessed many instances in which groundwater pollution or groundwater level declines have had serious negative impacts on the health of people, the economy and the environment.

Food security fears loom large in public policy discussions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The ability of most countries to maintain national food security depends on import capacity. The Middle East is the most dependent region in the world on imports of food staples and buys a quarter of all cereals traded globally. Households are food insecure, largely as a result of poverty. Agriculture utilizes 85–90 per cent of the region's water, as security is partly sought through domestic production at often unsustainable and inefficient water usage rates.