LIBYA: water strategy soon to be revised to meet climate challenges

In exactly one year’s time, Libya is set to implement new water resource management measures. On January 23, 2024, the Libyan Ministry of Water Resources unveiled its intention to revise its water strategy, through the “Project for Strengthening the Regulatory, Legislative and Strategic Water Framework”. The initiative will be implemented with funding from the African Development Bank (ADF) and the African Development Fund (ADF), as administrator of the MIC-TAF Trust Fund). “This project aims to assess and improve the regulatory, legal, institutional and strategic framework of the water sector that will strengthen the control and sustainable management of dwindling water resources, particularly groundwater resources”, says the AfDB.

Indeed, in this country of some 6.9 million inhabitants, dominated by the heat and aridity of the Sahara, but moderated along the coast by the Mediterranean Sea, climate change has increased climatic phenomena tenfold. In the north of Libya, cyclonic storms and rains have become more frequent, and in the west in particular, unprecedented droughts are drying up surface water resources. Inhabitants have no choice but to turn to groundwater resources, which are now overexploited.