Message from the director:
UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)6 is devoted to safe access to water and sanitation. The Middle East stands out in this respect since several of its countries now are experiencing a severe physical water scarcity, not due to climate change but due to that the population increase has meant that the domestic natural water supply is dwarfed by the total water needs of agriculture, ecology, and humans. Countries in the most precarious situation are Yemen, Palestine, Libya, Jordan, and Algeria. Due to that the limited natural availability of water in these countries is small, the risk for pollutants from human waste is comparably large. Accordingly, lack of water as well means lack of safe sanitation and lack of good health and wellbeing (SDG 3). The transdisciplinary research themes at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies actually involve most of the UN SDGs. Thus, the Center contributes to the strategic plan of the Lund University.
Ronny Berndtsson, acting director CMES
2020-01-28