Middle East on brink of water shortage

The water shortage problem outlined by Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan yesterday is real, environmentalists confirm: if nothing is done at the government and civil society levels, drought could become a permanent condition throughout the Middle East within four years.

Turkish ecologist Sinan Can, commenting on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's yesterday warning about the onset of a water crisis in densely populated cities, Istanbul, Bursa, and Ankara, predicted a sharp decline in water availability throughout the Middle East over the next four years.

Sinan Can explains that the region is currently experiencing climate change, with decreasing frequency and volume of precipitation, and droughts increasingly occurring during the hottest periods. This makes the threat of permanent water shortages real for both Türkiye and neighboring countries.