SOMA Newsletter

Author

Soma Mater
March 02, 2026

Welcome to the SOMA MATER weekly newsletter.

At SOMA MATER, we specialize in delivering comprehensive research and advisory services with a focus on Food & Water Security and Net Zero Transition in the MENA Region. In order to support our subscribing clients in navigating these topics and understanding the regional narrative, we produce monthly Food and Water Security and Net Zero Transition Intelligence Reports, along with our in-depth analysis and insights.

This weekly newsletter highlights the top 3 stories from the past week in Food and Water Security and Net Zero transition, along with SOMA MATER's analysis and perspective.

How is Saudi Arabia looking to address the challenge of sediment accumulation in its dam infrastructure?

How is the Middle East addressing the health risks of microplastic contamination in drinking water?

How can policy interventions reduce global food insecurity by 2100?

Sustainably yours,

The SOMA team

Stuck Between a Rock and a Silty Place: The Dam Dilemma

#FoodandWaterSecurity

Saudi Arabia's dam infrastructure has storage capacity of approximately 2.4 billion m³ of exploitable water across 559 dams. Now, the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture is tackling a persistent challenge—sediment accumulation—through its newly launched "Innovation Challenge in Dam Sediment Management." The initiative invites innovators and technology firms to develop long-term solutions that transform environmental obstacles into development opportunities.

The challenge will address issues like improving storage efficiency by reducing soil and material buildup, extending dam lifespan through innovative maintenance, and cutting costs compared to traditional dredging. Participation is open to local and international stakeholders, including startups, engineering solution providers, and research institutions.

Globally, siltation—the accumulation of fine particulate matter—costs approximately $6 billion annually in replacement capacity, with over 53% of sediment flux in regulated basins trapped in reservoirs. Sedimentation also reduces operational safety, compromises flood management capacity, and can shorten the lifespan of 50% of large dams within decades. While dredging offers solutions for smaller reservoirs, it remains impractical for large-scale facilities. Designers must consider sedimentation early in design.

SOMA’s Perspective:

This highlights an overlooked dimension of water infrastructure: longevity and maintenance. While building new dams is a popular narrative for water capture, infrastructure alone is not a comprehensive solution. Saudi Arabia's focus on sediment management reflects a maturation in water strategy: moving from purely expansionary thinking to systems-level problem-solving that extends asset life and reduces replacement costs.

Sources:

H₂-Oh No! The Plastic Invasion of Water Bottles

#FoodandWaterSecurity

Sami Khoreibi, founder of Wisewell and Enviromena, sees water undergoing the same transformation that reshaped the Middle East's energy sector. In 2007, he was pitching sustainable, decentralized energy in the Gulf through Enviromena. Now, he's applying that same systems-thinking to hydration—arguing that clean water, not supplements or wearables, may be the most overlooked lever in performance and longevity.

Research from the World Wildlife Fund estimates that the average person ingests roughly 52 credit cards' worth of plastic per year, and a standard liter of bottled water contains 240,000 nanoplastics. They are small enough to cross the blood-brain barrier and have been found in arteries, the blood, saliva, liver, kidneys, lungs, and placenta. 79% of people in the UAE and Saudi Arabia still rely on plastic bottles as their primary water source, despite 73% being afraid of the health risks. It's a behavioral gap driven by friction, not indifference.

Wisewell purifies water of plastics, chemicals, and particulates, then remineralizes it. This offers an infrastructure-level solution in a region where billions of single-use plastic bottles are made annually. So far, Wisewell has diverted more than 12 million plastic bottles and donated 24 million liters of clean water, turning hydration into a systems challenge rather than a lifestyle trend.

SOMA’s Perspective:

Plastic dependency is not just an environmental issue, it is a health risk compounding across generations. Regional public education on microplastic exposure could redefine hydration as critical health rather than a consumer product.

Sources:

The Billion-Person Question: Can We Write a Better Menu for 2100?

#FoodandWaterSecurity

More than 295 million people faced hunger and starvation in 2025. Recent AI modeling suggests that under high greenhouse gas emissions, over 1.1 billion people globally—including 600 million children—could face at least one severe food crisis by 2100. Africa bears the heaviest burden, with more than 170 million people predicted to be exposed to food crises in 2099 alone. Yet policy choices today could cut this exposure by more than half, sparing 780 million people from crisis.

Egypt's experience underscores how climate, politics, and economics intertwine. Research examining Egypt's food security reveals that climate change undermines food security in both the short and long term. While renewable energy and agricultural productivity emerge as positive drivers, long-term reliance on Nile water shows a negative relationship with food security—pointing not to scarcity, but to systemic inefficiencies. These include over-extraction and climate vulnerability.

The path forward requires integrated action. Policymakers should prioritize investments in renewable energy to lower agricultural costs, build climate resilience through adaptive strategies, and reform water governance to address inefficiencies. Cross-sectoral policies that align energy, water, climate adaptation, and agricultural modernization are essential. As the study notes: policy choices determine not just whether risk becomes crisis, but how big that crisis becomes.

SOMA’s Perspective:

Egypt's challenges demonstrate how water is no longer a background variable, but a strategic vulnerability to food security. The recent AI modeling study reinforces that future food security hinges not on whether crises arrive, but on how systems respond before they do. This requires integrated planning that aligns water governance, energy transition, climate adaptation, and agricultural modernization simultaneously. The paradox countries like Egypt struggle with is having to address today's needs while accounting for tomorrow's constraints.

Sources:

SOMA MATER is writing Intelligence Reports on the topics of Food and Water Security and Net Zero Transition. If you’d like to know more, contact us through the link below:

https://wkf.ms/3BmPiPo