For several years now a drought of huge proportions has been developing in the Middle East. They say that while water quality and water-borne diseases are the main concerns in Africa in the Middle East water is a major factor in regional conflicts. The Middle Eastern drought spread goes westward from India's Rajasthan desert through Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Israel. In Israel farmers' water allotments were cut over 25 percent. But the European Economic Community is considering a proposal to embargo crops grown in reclaimed sewage.
Few experts believe that.
Desertification has been going on for a long time. There the band shifts northward to between 50 and 30 degrees. That shift may have something to do with the crashing together of India and mainland Eurasia that brought about the towering Himalayas. There is plenty of evidence to show that the entire band, including its two segments, was green and fertile some 5,000 years ago. There are Sahara Desert cave painting stretching through southern Algeria, northern Niger, Chad and southern Libya that show not only green color but lush plant growth and animals like elephants, hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses and other animals that need large quantities of water.