FOOD AND AGRICULTURE
ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
(FAO)
The Near East region (grouping the countries
represented in the FAO Regional Office for the Near East) extends from the
Atlantic Ocean (Mauritania and Morocco) in the west to Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan
in the east and from Turkey and Kyrgyzstan in the north to Somalia in the
south. It falls between longitudes 17° west and 80° east and latitudes 43°
north and 2° south. In May 1996, it comprised 29 countries with a total area of
18.5 million kmē (Table 11), which is about 14% of the total area of the world
(including the interior lakes).
For the purpose of this study, the 29 countries have
been grouped in five sub-regions based primarily on geographic conditions and,
as far as possible, on hydro-climatic homogeneity. These subregions, presented
in Figure 1, are here referred to as Maghreb, North-eastern Africa, Arabian
Peninsula, Middle East and Central Asia .
Because of the aridity prevailing in the region, the
Near East is the poorest region in the world in terms of water resources,
globally and per inhabitant, even when considering the contribution of rivers
flowing from the bordering and more humid regions of tropical Africa (the Nile)
or Himalayan Asia (the Indus).
However, the water resources distribution within this
vast area, extending over three continents, is far from being uniform: land
relief, location with respect to the sea, latitude and resulting hydro-climatic
conditions, diversity in hydrographic and geological structures, and matching
or mismatching of the river basins with the national territories, all give rise
to extremely different water situations.
Many countries in the region are characterized by
long coastal boundaries. The coasts are located on the North Atlantic Ocean,
the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Persian Gulf, the
Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. In addition, several important interior seas
can be found in the region: the Black Sea to the north of Turkey, the Caspian
Sea to the north of Iran and to the west of Turkmenistan and the Dead Sea to
the west of Jordan. The Aral Sea is not bordering the Near East region, but the
northern part of Central Asia is located within the Aral Sea basin. Only three
countries, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, are landlocked.
Several international rivers cross the Near East
Region (Figure 2). The most important rivers are the Nile in North-eastern
Africa, which originates outside the region in the Equatorial Lake
Plateau and the highlands of Ethiopia, the Euphrates
and the Tigris in the Middle East, the Amu Darya, the Syr Darya and Indus in
Central Asia (the latter originating outside the region in the Himalayas).
Smaller rivers, like the Jordan and the Orontes in the Middle East, also play a
fundamental role in international relations regarding water resources.
The area extending between the Atlantic Ocean and the
Persian Gulf is covered with vast deserts. The Great Desert (the Sahara),
extending between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea, comprises large parts of
the Maghreb and North-eastern Africa. The area extending between the Red Sea
and the Persian Gulf includes the Rub Al Khali (Empty Quarter) desert in the
south of the Arabian Peninsula and the Badiat-EI-Sham desert in the north of
the Arabian Peninsula and the south of the Middle East. In Central Asia, a
large part of Iran is covered with desert, as is the case for the southern part
of Afghanistan and the south-western part of Pakistan. The Kara Kurn desert
comprises 80% of the total area of Turkmenistan.
Many mountain ranges can be found in the Near East
Region. In the centre of the Great Desert, several mountains appear, with the
highest peak at an elevation of 3 000 metres at Tebetsy Mountain in Libya. In
addition to these internal mountains, there are mountain ranges running
parallel to the coasts of the Mediterranean and Red Seas. The Atlas mountain
range occupies the north-westem corner of the Maghreb, with its peak in Morocco
at an elevation of 4 165 metres. In Lebanon, the Lebanon mountain chain has its
highest crest at just over 3 000 metres. In Yemen, there is a mountain peak at
an elevation of 3 268 metres; in south-eastern Turkey, at an elevation of 4 135
metres. The peak of the Zagros mountain chain in Iran reaches 4 432 metres. The
highest peak of the Hindu Kush range on the border between Afghanistan and
Pakistan reaches 7 690 metres (Tirichmir). In the north-eastern part of Central
Asia, the Himalayan mountain ranges have peaks reaching almost 8 000 metres.
The total population of the region was about 561
million in 1995, of which almost 52% rural. Population increased by 2.7%
between 1994 and 1995, ranging from 2.2% in the Maghreb and Northeastern Africa
to 3.1 % in Central Asia. During the last 10 years (1985-1995), average annual
population growth was 3.0% in the Near East Region as against 1.7% in the
world. Over 43% of the population of the region is concentrated in Central
Asia, which occupies 21 % of the total area of the Near East; 25% of the total
population lives in Pakistan alone, which occupies only 4% of the total area.
Population density is lowest in the Maghreb, with 12 inhabitants per km, and
highest in the Middle East, with 71 inhabitants per kmē. The least densely
populated country is Mauritania, with 2 inhabitants per kmē. Malta and Bahrain
are the most densely populated countries, with 1 158 and 811 inhabitants per
kmē respectively, followed far behind by Lebanon and Pakistan, with 288 and 177
inhabitants per kmē respectively. All the remaining countries have less than
100 inhabitants per kmē (Table 12).