Water is one of the most sensitive natural resources in the Mediterranean Basin - from the environmental, political, social and economical points of view. The total water demand has doubled over the last 50 years. In several development sectors, it is often the bottleneck for further development, extension and intensification. This development often translates into over-abstraction of water from ecosystems, especially from rivers, wetlands and groundwater sources.
In complement to the MWO Priority Indicator “Exploitation Index of Freshwater Renewable Resources”, this complementary indicator assesses more precisely the demand for freshwater from different socio-economic sectors, as a way to identify and quantify the key driving forces that (potentially) affect wetlands.
