Prime Minister HE Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani, HE Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid al-Mahmoud, Minister of Energy and Industry HE Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada and Kahramaa President Essa bin Hilal al-Kuwari at the start of the Second Arab Water Conference at Ritz-Carlton Doha yesterday. PICTURE: Noushad Thekkayil 

 

Arab countries should work together to overcome the challenges in the availability of water by developing long-lasting, effective and affordable solutions, HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani said yesterday while opening the Second Arab Water Conference in Doha.

The three-day conference, held under his patronage of the Prime Minister, has the theme “Towards Rational Management of Water Resources in Arab Countries- Sustainable and Creative Solutions to meet current challenges”. It is attended by some ministers and several senior officials and other policymakers from across the Arab region.

While deliberating on the water challenges being faced by most nations in the Arab region, the Prime Minister said the growing requirements in the coming years would make things more complicated, if the issue was not handled effectively.

HE Sheikh Abdullah said Qatar had planned its strategies over the years and was continuously working on developing effective solutions to meet its growing water requirements.

Attributing this to the wise leadership of HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the Prime Minister said the country had been managing its natural resources efficiently, maintaining the highest international standards.

HE Sheikh Abdullah expressed the confidence that the meeting would provide an opportunity for the  policymakers to understand the region’s urgent water requirements better.

Delivering the keynote address, HE the Minister for Energy and Industry Dr Mohamed Saleh al-Sada called upon the member countries to develop unified approaches to answer the challenges threatening the sustainability of the region’s economies.

“Effective management of water resources is unavoidable for a water-scarce region’s overall development and its long-term stability,” said the minister.

Among the most severe challenges are excessive reliance on imported water as is being done in some countries, longer duration of drought conditions and on top of all dwindling natural resources, said Dr al-Sada.

The minister said 18 to 20 Arab states are classified under the water poverty line. “There is a deficit of thousands of cubic metres per year per capita in several parts of the region,” he said while adding that at least eight of those countries are suffering from extreme deficiency of water.

While observing that agriculture accounts for about 85% of the region’s total water consumption, Dr al-Sada said increasing pressures of climate change, high evaporation and declining rainfall are making things more difficult. “This has not only hit the availability of water hard but also the overall quality of the region’s arable land.”

“Such problematic issues as the deterioration of surface or groundwater water quality and contamination of reservoirs could also affect the environment and public health.”

“In the GCC region, the states face harsh climatic conditions and there are large areas with scarce natural water resources. With no rivers in the region, rising salinity of water bodies and groundwater depletion add to the challenges. In spite of this, the region’s residents are also the incidentally the highest average per capita consumers of water in the world,” said the minister.

Considering the enormity of the crisis, Qatar, he said, has all along emphasised the importance of a consensus and partnership between the GCC countries based on a strategy for the region’s long-term water security. This, he said, would ensure both the responsible and rational use of resources as well as would reinforce the need of a sustainable future for the whole region.”

President of Kahramaa and senior engineer Essa bin Hilal al-Kuwari said the interest in water resources management was clearly reflected in the good participation of several technical experts and presentation of the research papers at the conference.

He disclosed that the conference’s scientific committee received numerous submissions and shortlisted 48 papers for presentation.

Such a vital topic as the use of brackish water for  agricultural purposes in the region was deliberated extensively at a workshop organised by the committee in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) prior to the  conference.

Besides the Prime Minister and the Minister of Energy, Deputy Prime Minister HE

Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid al-Mahmoud and many senior officials of Kahramaa and Qatar General Electricity and Water Company attended the opening ceremony.

The Prime Minister and other ministers later made a tour of inspection of the exhibition held alongside the conference.

 

 

 

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