1. CWANA enjoys the presence of the largest oil reserves in the world, which makes it attractive to international interests and interventions. At the same time, CWANA has many people living below the poverty line.
2. Weak governance and poor human rights have exacerbated the wealth gap among societies and sparked ethnic conflict in many CWANA countries. Tribalism is still dominant, with conflicts, feuds and wars among tribes and ethnic groups, mostly over resources, becoming frequent.
3. About 85% of the region is dry, with highly variable rainfall accompanied by frequent drought: most of the deserts in the world are in this region. Natural resources are under high pressure from a high population growth rate and increased life expectancy, climate change and misuse.
4. Most of the current conflicts in the world are in this region. As a result, migration, population displacement, land degradation, water depletion, loss of biodiversity, disappearance of indigenous knowledge and degradation of livelihoods are becoming the norm in many CWANA countries.
5. Scarcity of water resources is compounded by inefficient water use. Most CWANA countries use more than 80% of their fresh water for agriculture and have inefficient irrigation systems. Most of the commercially produced desalinized water worldwide is in the Arabian Peninsula.
6. While most of the water resources are transboundary, there is weak cooperation to jointly manage the shared water. Current water allocations have not been arrived at through regional agreements, except in the Nile Basin and the Ganges Basin.
7. Most renewable groundwater in the region is already exploited and in some cases overexploited, leading to deteriorating water quality. This region has a large reservoir of fossil groundwater, used by some countries without any formal agreements among the sharing countries.

Well-being

1. High population growth and high rates of unemployment strongly drive increased urbanization and migration.
2. Improvement in living standards in some countries, changes in lifestyle, free access to market and development of tourism have increased demand for diverse agricultural commodities.
3. Uneven distribution of wealth within most CWANA countries leads to the formation of marginalized groups and poverty pockets and stems from several physical, social, economic, educational, ethnic and political factors. The middle class is shrinking and most of its individuals are getting poorer. More than 40% of the people live on less than US$1 a day in CWANA.
4. Access to microfinance to generate income is limited, especially for women.
5. Access to education is limited in many CWANA countries. Poverty and children involved in agricultural work, especially rearing livestock, limit access. In Sudan, where pastoralists move with their herds and families, mobile schools are provided.

6. Relief and emergency interventions are widespread in the region, especially in conflict zones. In conflicts, food for work or small income-generating projects proved to be better coping strategies than food aid, since food aid tended to perpetuate dependency.
7. In CWANA countries, animal products are major sources of protein, but their prices have increased significantly from increased feed cost. Decreased affordability and increase in poverty have shifted diets toward legumes and carbohydrates. This change in food habits may adversely affect human health.
8. Household farming using plant production and small ruminants is dominant in most CWANA countries, even in urban areas. The social and nutritional value of these systems in alleviating poverty and providing food outweighs its profitability.
9. Seasonal migration is common in many CWANA countries, which increases the pressure on natural resources and affects the social fabric. Most Arabian Peninsula countries have a high percentage of migratory workers in all fields. Jordan and Lebanon have many migratory workers in agriculture. High unemployment and low profitability in traditional farming make seasonal farming within and among states appealing; this depletes the indigenous skills to manage natural resources.

Agriculture

1. Large-scale farming, which relies on high investment and monocropping, is expanding at the expense of small-scale indigenous farming. It leads to loss of agrobiodiversity, land degradation, depletion of water, loss of livelihoods and conflicts over land and water rights.
2. Large areas of the agricultural land in CWANA are subjected to poor soil management, leading to wind erosion, water erosion, nutrient depletion and soil salinization.
3. As a result of globalization and free markets, smallscale farmers in CWANA are becoming less competitive because of low productivity and lack of subsidies, price systems and technical and marketing information.
4. Most CWANA countries are net importers of food, especially cereals. The Arab countries import US$20 billion each year. Imported food costs are rising rapidly and will probably rise further from world competition for food.
5. 5. Agricultural imports in CWANA countries in 2004 reached US$41. 8 billion, while agricultural exports did not exceed US$17 billion. CWANA exports fruits, vegetables, dates and olive oil and imports mainly grains. Considering the water scarcity, this appears to indicate unwise water-resource management. However, profitable grain production depends on large-scale land ownership and mechanization, while fruits and vegetables are less dependent on land and are labor intensive.

Key Issues

1. Land tenure, ownership rights and communal rangelands affect natural resource management and, consequently, agricultural development in CWANA. Social and cultural values toward land ownership in most of the region go beyond economic profitability of agriculture. Communal land is overexploited and mismanaged.