Governments in Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and Yemen have faced protests in recent weeks, part fuelled by rising food costs. Unfortunately, this is a trend that looks set to continue and probably escalate over the next two decades.
The rise of the middle classes in emerging markets, coupled with a soaring world population, underpin an increase in the price of basics such as wheat, corn and sugar.
But the situation is going to be made much worse by the scarcity of water – the most important commodity there is.
“Water remains a more problematic commodity than food and fuel: though cheap in its natural state, it is expensive to process and expensive to transport, especially in the quantities necessary for agriculture,” according to a report from a Washington-based think tank released last month.
“Past water shortages have been temporary or small-scaled; future groundwater depletion will be massive and effectively permanent.”
The Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) study looked at water as a strategic resource in the Middle East – the most water-scarce region on Earth.
True Discernment 
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