Doha has been selected to be included among four world cities where an integrated global model for food, water and energy will be applied.
According to the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME), the four urban and sustainable cities - Doha, Berlin, Bristol, and Vienna - were selected because they reflect different social and economic patterns, while they also differ in the characteristics of climate and weather in general and in the consumption patterns, all of which have an impact on food production and require the development of a sustainable global model based on international scientific and technical foundations for food, water and energy resources in urban areas.
The project is launched by the international research initiative "SUNEX" of the Belmont Forum and JPI Urban Europe.
SUNEX will monitor the mentioned global model through a control and sensing network to test the ability and efficiency of its components to improve water and energy sources for local food production.
The Belmont Forum has awarded the scientific and technical work to the Ministry of Municipality and Environment and Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute at Hamad bin Khalifa University, along with scientific research institutes from Europe and America, to conduct scientific research titled "Formulating Sustainable Urban Food, Water and Energy (FEW) strategy by optimising the synergetic effects among food, water and energy sectors".
The study will be conducted over three years, starting from July 2018 and ending in July 2021. International donors and Qatar National Research Fund will finance the research at a cost of €1.5mn.
The Qatari team is led by Director of Centre for Environment and Municipal Studies at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment Dr Mohamed Saif al- Kuwari.
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