This is the first edition of the State of Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture (SOLAW) and fills an important thematic gap for the Near East and North African (NENA) countries. It is intended as a FAO regional Office for the Near East and North Africa (RNE) flagship publication, presenting objective and comprehensive information and analyses on the current state, trends and challenges facing two of the most important agricultural production factors: land and water. The report focuses on the state of land and water in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region, which includes Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Yemen, as well as West Bank and Gaza Strip. Some of the tables and figures refer to the Arab region, which includes all the NENA countries plus Comoros, Djibouti and Somalia, in which case reference to the Arab region is made explicitly. Land and water resources are central to agriculture and rural development, and are deeply and intrinsically linked to the NENA regional challenges of food insecurity and poverty, rapid urbanization trends and climate change adaptation and mitigation, as well as the degradation and depletion of natural resources, all of which affect the livelihoods of almost 420 million people in the region. In the past 70 years, NENA’s population has grown sixfold, compared with a threefold increase worldwide. Current projections indicate that NENA’s population will reach more than 633 million by 2050, with almost three-quarters living in the region’s cities. This translates into increased demand for food, with urban populations demanding diversified diets. Population growth, coupled with changing consumption patterns, exerts significant pressures on scarce land and water resources. NENA is one of the world’s regions predicted to be most affected by climate change, which is already altering crop productivity and growth cycles. An increase in mean temperatures, floods and droughts affects smallholders the most, as well as poorer populations with low capacities to adapt and populations experiencing conflict. Land and water resources – the basis of our food production – are finite and are under severe stress in NENA. To address these challenges, future agricultural production will need to be transformative, becoming more productive and sustainable, focused on farming systems and crops that most efficiently use water resources. An increase in innovative approaches in response to the impacts of climate change is urgently required, and climate-smart practices must be scaled up and out.