Water Management as a Challenge to Sustainable Development in the Mediterranean Sea Basin

Abstract

The Mediterranean region has a particular place in geopolitics at the edge of three continents, Europe, Asia, and Africa, and between the Straits of Gibraltar and the Bosporus. This makes it a constant subject of political competition between several European countries and the European Union (EU) as a whole. This area is faced with political, economic, environmental, and social challenges. To meet them the EU requires a common vision and to act in concert. A particular challenge in the context of the Mediterranean region is a drastic drop in water resources combined with environmental degradation. As water is an integral part of human life and habitats, it lays the foundations for complicated hydrologic cycle and interdependencies in all form of life on earth. The most challenging thing is to resolve the problem of “competition for water” between humans and habitats. The idea of self-sustaining development addresses this challenge. Its effective implementation and harmonization requires the inclusion of environmental issues (with water management) in state policies at national and international levels. The article aims at presenting water management as a key challenge to sustainable development with a deductive approach, from the global situation and patterns of conduct to regional practices in the Mediterranean countries.