Middle East nations are dealing with the loss of agriculturally productive land. Growing populations throughout the region are placing greater demands on food resources, leading to overgrazing and aggressive expansion of farming. Meanwhile, new infrastructure development to meet the needs of the increasing population is further reducing the overall amount of fertile land. Some nations have begun to fight the land decay, but more will need to if a land crisis is to be averted.
Desertification and Its Causes
Desertification has been defined by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification as “land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid regions resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities.” The loss of arable land in the Middle East is particularly problematic, as the region already has so little of it to begin with. This scarcity has led to the overuse of the available lands, and consequently, a transformation of some of these lands into desert.
In the Gulf States, the discovery of vast oil reserves was both a blessing and a curse. The sale of oil has made many of these small nations very wealthy, but the exploitation of the land to extract the oil has done significant environmental damage. Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, grew from a small fishing village and strategic trading port at the beginning of the 20th century to an ultra-modern city of around 3 million by 2022. Oil was the primary factor in the incredible growth of the city, but it has now transitioned into a major tourist attraction. The city’s expansion has come at a price, however, in the form of desertification. This century alone, the UAE has lost around 40 percent of its already scarce arable land. The exponential population growth and urbanization have been the prime factors in the loss of land.
In Iran, it is estimated that around half of the farmland has poor soil quality. Farmers there have used groundwater pumping systems in an attempt to increase their harvests. While successful in that goal, this process does long-term damage to the land. Qatar’s freshwater supply, for example, has been severely depleted by agricultural use, and the water quality is so poor that it has to be treated before use.
Innovations to Fight Desertification
The UAE has been aggressively using the latest technologies to fight the desertification of the nation’s arable land. The government is offering incentives to energy companies using more environmentally friendly methods. A Norwegian company has developed a technology that uses liquid natural clay nanoparticles to revitalize worn-out land, rendering positive long-term effects on soil quality. Recently, the UAE has begun to employ this technology in areas around Dubai.
Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia have developed projects to plant trees to help restore arid lands. The Saudi Green Initiative, launched in 2016, is a series of programs designed to promote renewable energy and fight desertification. One of its goals is to plant 10 billion trees in an effort to reclaim the arid land. The Saudi Green Initiative also placed all desertification and sustainability projects under one authority, allowing for better coordination and more efficiency in implementing those programs.
Qatar has set ambitious goals for food self-sufficiency. The vast majority of Qatar’s food supply, for both people and livestock, is imported. The Qatar National Food Security Programme is taking measures to produce all its food needs inside the small nation. Some of the planned projects to achieve this are concerned directly with reclaiming arid land for farming and grazing purposes. Qatar has tremendous oil wealth and has earmarked $25 billion to transform the nation.
Other means of preserving the land include indoor vertical farms that use 90 percent less water than traditional farming methods. These farms use hydroponic technology that dissolves nutrients directly into the water that the plants then absorb. Additionally, the UAE uses drones to plant seeds across large swaths of land much faster than manual seed-planting. Drones are also used to survey areas to find any potential problems as quickly as possible. The use of drones has been so successful that the agricultural drone market is expected to be over $8 billion within the next four years.
The continuing threat of desertification throughout the Middle East means that nations in the region need to be very proactive in their efforts to reclaim and renew their lands. Many nations, especially the Gulf States, have already begun the work of preserving their land for future generations.
There are many nations throughout the region, however, that are not as fortunate. Nations like Jordan are not blessed with the oil wealth of the Gulf States and are going to need help, both technological and financial, if they are to save their lands from decay. A regional effort, with help from the rest of the world, would go a long way toward ensuring a future with enough arable land for all residents of the Middle East.