ABSTRACT
Most countries in the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) are severely affected by deforestation, or are simply too dry to sustain forests. While in Egypt, the implementation of wastewater reuse is struggling with its institutional and regulatory set-up and missing incentives, significant progress can be reported from water reuse in afforestation and also in view of value creation from sludge, both with a huge potential for scaling up. The Tunisian example appears some steps ahead on the trajectory towards cost recovery although the case is struggling with its reuse percentages as many farmers can access alternative water sources with less stigma, risks and crop restrictions. The setup of the case combined par excellence an applied low-cost technology, stakeholder participation, local resource recovery demands and a business plan for replication across towns and suburbs, with a dedicated accounting system to support full financial cost recovery.
