DROUGHT IN LIBYA SOME SOLUTIONS AVAILABLE TO AN OIL-RICH GOVERNMENT

Abstract

THE NORTH AFRICAN DESERT approaches very closely the Mediterranean coast, and scarcely one per cent of the state of Libya receives an average of 200 mm. or more of rain per year. In the high temperature conditions which prevail in Libya, 200 mm. of well distributed winter rain is the minimum required for the satisfactory cultivation of unirrigated grain, or even hardy tree crops such as the olive and the almond. Rainfall is rarely well distributed and is frequently less than average for a number of years together, and even much of the favoured one per cent of the country endures drought conditions in 4 out of 10 years. Drought is, therefore, a permanent feature for all but a few favoured coastal areas, and is a familiar condition to the whole agricultural community of the Libyan Arab Republic. Supplementary underground sources of water have long been used, especially where these are very near the surface, close to the coast. During the twentieth century deeper aquifers have been tapped as technology and economic resources have become available, both in areas which suffer irregular rainfall, as well as increasingly in the recent past in areas of negligible precipitation. These last are areas in which recharge of the ground-water resource is insignificant. In these new and often ambitious development schemes, the resource to be exploited is a finite fossil resource, and its use should, therefore, be approached with caution, and schemes for its exploitation should be based on expensive and wide ranging hydrological research. The Libyan case is interesting in that more than 10 years of oil revenues have created an economy with a capital surplus, and extraordinary development spending has ensued. Agricultural development based on ground-water has been vigorous, especially in the private sector. Unfortunately this development, extending the irrigated area by up to 2 per cent each year since the mid 1960s, has been unregulated, especially in the north west of the country,1 where the shallow aquifers are most vulnerable to over-use.2 Successive