Aaron Wolf on Water Management, Agriculture, and Population Growth in the Middle East by ECSP WWC

In terms of groundwater depletion, “Yemen and Gaza are probably the two places worst off in the Middle East,” Aaron Wolf told ECSP in a recent interview. Wolf, a water expert and geography professor at Oregon State University, said population growth across the broader Middle East region has led to intensified groundwater pumping in recent years. This trend has raised the prospects for water-related conflict down the road, as countries drain their groundwater stocks faster than the aquifers can recharge. Potentially complicating matters further is that “most of the aquifers in the Middle East do cross international boundaries,” Wolf pointed out.

Read the full post on New Security Beat: http://www.newsecuritybeat.org/2011/09/pop-audio-aaron-wolf-on-water.html