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Five-year average population of each country in the Middle East. Source: FAO-AQUASTAT Database and Worldometers. The data is acquired from: www.Worldometers.info.
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Developing countries have experienced significant challenges in meeting their needs for food, energy, and water security. This paper presents a country-level review of the current issues associated with Food-Energy-Water (FEW) security in the Middle East. In this study, sixteen countries in the Middle East are studied, namely Iraq, Iran, Syria, Leb...
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... on the total population, the most populated countries in the Middle East are Egypt, Iran, and Turkey, respectively. Figure 9 shows a five-year average population in the Middle East countries. From the figure, the first cluster indicates that Egypt has the highest population growth considerably from the beginning of the 21st century followed by Iran and Turkey. ...
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As part of the circular economy, there is increasing interest internationally in water reuse, reclaimed water or recycled wastewater. This interest responds to water scarcity concerns at present and to demands projected for the resource by all sectors in the future, which will surpass freshwater available. It also responds to the incentive to close...
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... Water scarcity is a growing threat in South Asian and Middle Eastern countries, where access to clean water is limited and unevenly distributed, leading to social justice issues [1,2]. To address this, water reuse practices have gained attention as a sustainable solution [3]. ...
Disinfection during tertiary municipal wastewater treatment is a necessary step to control the spread of pathogens; unfortunately, it also gives rise to numerous disinfection byproducts (DBPs), only a few of which are regulated because of the analytical challenges associated with the vast number of potential DBPs. This study utilized polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) passive samplers, comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS), and non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) spectral deconvolution for suspect screening of DBPs in treated wastewater. PDMS samplers were deployed upstream and downstream of the chlorination unit in a municipal wastewater treatment plant located in Abu Dhabi, and their extracts were analyzed using GC×GC-TOFMS. A workflow incorporating a multi-tiered, eight-filter screening process was developed, which successfully enabled the reliable isolation of 22 candidate DBPs from thousands of peaks. The NMF spectral deconvolution improved the match factor score of unknown mass spectra to the reference mass spectra available in the NIST library by 17% and facilitated the identification of seven additional DBPs. The close match of the first-dimension retention index data and the GC×GC elution patterns of DBPs, both predicted using the Abraham solvation model, with their respective experimental counterparts—with the measured data available in the NIST WebBook and the GC×GC elution patterns being those observed for the candidate peaks—significantly enhanced the accuracy of peak assignment. Isotopic pattern analysis revealed a close correspondence for 11 DBPs with clearly visible isotopologues in reference spectra, thereby further strengthening the confidence in the peak assignment of these DBPs. Brominated analogues were prevalent among the detected DBPs, possibly due to seawater intrusion. The fate, behavior, persistence, and toxicity of tentatively identified DBPs were assessed using EPI Suite™ and the CompTox Chemicals Dashboard. This revealed their significant toxicity to aquatic organisms, including developmental, mutagenic, and endocrine-disrupting effects in certain DBPs. Some DBPs also showed activity in various CompTox bioassays, implicating them in adverse molecular pathways. Additionally, 11 DBPs demonstrated high environmental persistence and resistance to biodegradation. This combined approach offers a powerful tool for future research and environmental monitoring, enabling accurate identification and assessment of DBPs and their potential risks.
... Due to the growing population and fast industry development, the demand for potable water is persistently increasing and has become one of the world's major challenges in the world [1][2][3]. For instance, regions such as the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are the most water-scarce regions, with a rapidly growing rate of population, which urgently require inclusive steps to close the gap between high water demand and limited resource availability [4]. According to the United Nations World Water Development Report 2020 states that, a staggering 4.2 billion individuals lack proper sanitation facilities, while an additional 2.2 billion people continue to face the challenge of limited access to safe drinking water [5]. ...
The freshwater shortage continues to be one of the greatest challenges affecting our planet. Although traditional membrane distillation (MD) can produce clean water regardless of climatic conditions, the process wastes a lot of energy. The technique of solar-powered membrane distillation (SPMD) has received a lot of interest in the past decade, thanks to the development of photothermal materials. SPMD is a promising replacement for the traditional MD based on fossil fuels, as it can prevent the harmful effects of emissions on the environment. Integrating green solar energy with MD can reduce the cost of the water purification process and secure freshwater production in remote areas. At this point, it is important to consider the most current progress of the SPMD system and highlight the challenges and prospects of this technology. Based on this, the background, recent advances, and principles of MD and SPMD, their configurations and mechanisms, fabrication methods, advantages, and current limitations are discussed. Detailed comparisons between SPMD and traditional MD, assessments of various standards for incorporating photothermal materials with desirable properties, discussions of desalination and other applications of SPMD and MD, and energy consumption rates are also covered. The final section addresses the potential of SPMD to outperform traditional desalination technology while improving water production without requiring a significant amount of electrical or high-grade thermal energy.
... The Middle East is presently experiencing a significant increase in urbanization, a phenomenon that can be ascribed to factors including population growth, economic progress, and societal transformations (Almulhim & Cobbinah, 2023;Hameed et al., 2019). The process of urbanization results in the transformation of natural landscapes into urbanized environments, inducing modifications in the regional climate and environmental systems (Li et al., 2022;Roy et al., 2022;Seifollahi-Aghmiuni et al., 2022). ...
This study examined urban heat dynamics in 21 major Middle Eastern cities from 2003 to 2019. Changes in daytime and nighttime land surface temperature (LST) during summertime were assessed using the least squares regression model. The most pronounced increase in LST was found in Gulf and Arabian Peninsula cities, while higher altitude cities (e.g., Beirut and Sanaa) showed the least warming. The increase in nighttime LST was higher than daytime LST, especially in inland cities. Heat stress exposure was assessed using hot/cold spot categories. Over 11 million people in megacities are at risk of heat stress. Our findings show that most cities had significant day-night thermal risk distribution differences, with heat stress being more common in central urban areas at night and in urban periphery during daytime. City nighttime LST may serve as a more reliable indicator of anthropogenic climate change compared to daytime LST effects, which primarily result from physical factors such as the inflow of hot air from nearby deserts. Also, while built-up areas correlated with hot/cold spots in most cities, a complex relationship exists between vegetation and hot/cold spot patterns. Our study emphasizes well-informed urban planning and adaptable mitigation strategies to protect urban populations from heat stress.
... Economic structure is crucial, especially with more vulnerable economies requiring greater investment to attain water security [13]. Hameed et al. (2019) highlighted the fact that the Middle East's financial sector weakness and unstable economic growth are the factors most affecting the region's long-term economic development. Gross domestic product (GDP) is a measure of total products of a country. ...
... In most arid regions, flash floods are a natural phenomenon because rainfall can be very intense in a short time, especially when these events are accompanied by dry or low infiltration capacity soils in the region. The flash flood events in 2009, 2010, and 2011 in Saudi Arabia were documented as the worst since the 1980s [15]. In 2021, tropical cyclone Shaheen caused very high amounts of precipitation and severe damage to the infrastructure of several regions in the Sultanate of Oman [17]. ...
... The Middle East is presently experiencing a significant increase in urbanization, a phenomenon that can be ascribed to factors including population growth, economic progress, and societal transformations (Almulhim & Cobbinah, 2023;Hameed et al., 2019). The process of urbanization results in the transformation of natural landscapes into urbanized environments, inducing modifications in the regional climate and environmental systems (Li et al., 2022;Roy et al., 2022;Seifollahi-Aghmiuni et al., 2022). ...
This study examined urban heat dynamics in 21 major Middle Eastern cities from 2003 to 2019. Changes in daytime and nighttime land surface temperature (LST) during summertime were assessed using the least squares regression model. The most pronounced increase in LST was found in Gulf and Arabian Peninsula cities, while higher altitude cities (e.g., Beirut and Sanaa) showed the least warming. The increase in nighttime LST was higher than daytime LST, especially in inland cities. Heat stress exposure was assessed using hot/cold spot categories. Over 11 million people in megacities are at risk of heat stress. Our findings show that most cities had significant day-night thermal risk distribution differences, with heat stress being more common in central urban areas at night and in urban periphery during daytime. City nighttime LST may serve as a more reliable indicator of anthropogenic climate change compared to daytime LST effects, which primarily result from physical factors such as the inflow of hot air from nearby deserts. Also, while built-up areas correlated with hot/cold spots in most cities, a complex relationship exists between vegetation and hot/cold spot patterns. Our study emphasizes well-informed urban planning and adaptable mitigation strategies to protect urban populations from heat stress.
... Moreover, the research content is often limited, and only the methods or models are summarized (Urbinatti et al. 2020). In some studies, the research object was limited to a particular aspect, and the retrieval time was out of date (Hameed et al. 2019). In traditional review methods, it is difficult to conduct quantitative analysis and visually display the data for large samples. ...
The purpose of this study is to summarize the research results on corporate value published from 2000 to 2022; show the research overview, hot trends, and topic evolution of this research field; provide new ideas for the mining of the research frontiers of corporate value and a summary of the change rules of research hotspots; and describe prospects for the evolution direction and path of future research. Combining the bibliometric research method with a literature review, the research results on corporate value were analyzed quantitatively by querying the WOS database from 2000 to 2022; the analysis tool was CiteSpace. This study has five findings. First, researchers are paying increasing attention to the study of corporate value, and most of the research results are obtained by independent authors. Second, Chinese research institutions rank among the top three in publication volume. However, their research results have had little impact, with Univ Penn and Peking Univ having the most significant impact. Third, the top three keywords that scholars pay attention to are performance, impact, and corporate governance. Keyword burst analysis, CSR, value reliability, and sustainability are the latest research frontiers. Fourth, evolutionary trends are divided into three stages: research on the influencing factors of corporate value, research on the impact of corporate behavior on corporate value, and research on the evaluation and growth of corporate value. Fifth, knowledge domains include corporate value research methods, the factors influencing corporate value, and corporate behavior. The aims of this study are to provide a new perspective for researchers to study corporate value, provide new ideas for enterprise managers to manage corporate value, and achieve the sustainable development of corporate value. At the same time, the scientific knowledge graph method is applied in corporate value research, adding a new research path for corporate value.
... rapid population increase, and resource overutilization, the conflict between the supply and demand of water resources has become increasingly severe (Hameed et al. 2019;Gao et al. 2021b;Bai et al. 2013;Konar et al. 2019;Veisi et al. 2020;Esmaeilion et al. 2021). Consequently, an increasing number of scholars, governments, and environmental organizations are attending to ecosystems' water conservation functions . ...
Water conservation is one of the most important ecosystem functions. This study uses the InVEST model to examine the water conservation function of the Qilian Mountain National Park (QMNP), an important water supply area in northwest China. We analyzed the spatiotemporal water conservation patterns of QMNP from 1988 to 2019. It showed that the water conservation capacity in QMNP has increased over the past 32 years, reaching a peak of 6.495×108 m3 in 2019. The area with an increased water conservation capacity is 12 times larger than the area with a reduced capacity. We also examined how climatic, land-use, vegetation coverage, and topographical factors influence water conservation functions. We found that precipitation is the main climatic factor in water conservation. The water conservation function also varies with land-cover type, with forests having the highest capacity, followed by grasslands. Lastly, topographical factors, including altitude and slope, also shape the spatial patterns of water conservation functions in QMNP.
... This perhaps makes the situation more intense in the case of the region and in particular for Kuwait, where the absence of freshwater resources forces the country to rely heavily on water desalination processes (Akber and Mukhopadhyay 2021;Al-Fadhli et al. 2022;Al-Shayji and Aleisa 2018;Saif, Mezher, and Arafat 2014). The Gulf countries are ranked among the highest in terms of water and energy consumption, with water consumption per capita reaching 560 L/capita/day, (compared with the world average of 180 L/capita/day); the average energy consumption per capita in these countries was reported to be 18,000 kWh, whereas the global average was approximately 3000 kWh in 2018 (Al Bannay and Takizawa 2022; Al-Badi and AlMubarak 2019; Almasri and Alshitawi 2022;Hameed et al. 2019;Qureshi 2020;Salahuddin and Gow 2019;Salameh et al. 2022). ...
Global water scarcity is a growing concern with particular connotations in the Middle East region. The case of Kuwait is explored in this paper with insights from the GCC region. Kuwait is a small oil-exporting economy, with a very poor fresh water rating that makes it one of the most water-stressed states in the world. Oil secures the population's water needs and supports business activities. However, water scarcity intensifies the country's inability to pursue an economically sustainable agenda, as there is a high dependence on oil to guarantee the desalination process of seawater to obtain needed fresh water for Kuwait. Current climate change pressures emphasise the need to minimise fossil fuel consumption, which poses significant threats to oil-rich economies in their quest for economic development and environmental sustainability. This research paper explores the geoeconomics and geopolitical dynamics of an oil-rich country in need of addressing water scarcity by connecting economic and political aspects of water security and conflict through oil revenues.
... About 1.2 billion per capita worldwide do not have access to potable water [2], and nearly two-thirds of the world's population suffers from water scarcity at least one month per year [2]. Some regions such as the Middle East, Central and Southern Asia, North Africa, and East and South Africa are considered vulnerable to climatic change and water scarcity [3][4][5]. ...
Developing safer and environmentally friendly methods for wastewater management is a crucial issue worldwide. Pollutants stemming from pure elemental, organic or inorganic compounds, or microbial sources, are an increasing problem in domestic wastewater. Constructed wetlands (CWs) have been used as an effective and low-cost method of treating different types of polluted water. This review paper focuses on the effectiveness of pollutant-removal from domestic wastewater using vertical flow constructed wetlands (VFCWs) and hybrid constructed wetlands (HCWs). Meta-analysis and ANOVA tests were conducted to analyse the potentiality of VFCW and HCW as a remedy for domestic wastewater and the effect of using different substrates and plant species. Meta-analysis shows a high significance (p = 0.001) between the interactions (method, plant, and substrate) on the pollutant's removal efficiency. In both analysis methods, there were no significant differences between VFCW and HCW for the same pollutant (p > 0.05); the average removal percentages when using VFCW and HCW (according to ANOVA analysis) were 80% vs. 90% for BOD, 78% vs. 77% for COD, 75% vs. 83% for ammonium-N, 48% vs. 56% for TN, and 60% for TP, respectively. Moreover, this review article presents a comprehensive overview of the removal mechanisms for organics, inorganics, and metals from domestic wastewater using VFCW, and the effects of environmental parameters including substrate type, plant species, and dissolved oxygen which have direct and indirect impacts on physical, chemical, and biological removal mechanisms. In conclusion, VFCWs and HCWs seem to be an excellent approach, offering economical and environmentally friendly techniques for domestic wastewater treatment, but VFCW is considered simpler and more applicable for setting up on-site near houses, as there is no significant difference (p > 0.05) between applying VFCW or HCW on removal percentages for most pollutants, according to ANOVA testing. More work is needed to study the effect of non-planted VFCWs and HCWs on removal efficiency.
... Influence of PV cells on CO 2 emissions was investigated by Wang et al. [10] and they acquired a reduction of 13,912,874.12 tonnes CO 2 emissions in their study. The rapid growth of the population rate, which leads to high electricity consumption, are main reasons that Saudi Arabia utilizes renewable energies [11]. As shown in Fig. 1, renewable energies involve only 0.11% of electricity produced in Saudi Arabia [12]. ...
... Then, by solving different configurations, the software presents a list of possible scenarios from the maximum to the minimum total NPC. To Percentage of renewable energy consumption in recent years in Saudi Arabia [11]. ...
