Desertification and Water Scarcity as a Security Challenge in the Mediterranean

Abstract

There is a new perception of a global dimension: environmental security. The protection of our fixed and shared environment is gradually coming to people's attention as an obligatory requirement for equitable development, in order to prevent disasters related to environmental security and to avoid conflicts. The Euro-Mediterranean Region is also immersed in this general trend partly as a consequence of more frequent severe environmental events, such as forest fires, floods and landslides, droughts, torrential rains, heat waves and water scarcity. The Southern and Eastern shores of the Mediterranean undergo even more harsh environmental impacts affecting the stability of the land, its capacity to produce food and the lack of water resources. These environmental conditions are the origin of recurrent famines, social marginalization, conflicts and forced population displacement.