13 May 2012
Amman - The annual international conference on water resources opened at the University of Jordan UoJ on Sunday to discuss water security in the Middle East and the Mediterranean region.
In opening remarks at the gathering, organised by the UoJ Centre of Water, Energy and Environment in a partnership with the Euro-Arab Organization for Environment, Water and Desert Researches, Minister of Water and Irrigation Mohammad Najjar said the Arab world was facing the enormous challenge of rising demand on water and scarce resources.
Najjar, who deputized for Prime Minister Fayez Tarawneh at the opening session, said the water shortage was a result of using up cross-border sources exacerbated by climate change.
"The present condition of water requires a firm stand to assess the status quo and put short-, medium- and long-term strategies and executive programmes to achieve sustainable development requirements using innovational methods that rise to the level of the challenges," he added.
The minister called for fair and equitable sharing of cross-border water sources by upstream and downstream states through adhering to international conventions, adding: "We in Jordan are facing chronic imbalances in the water-population equation," pointing out that the Kingdom's per capita share of water is one of the lowest in the world.
He outlined projects underway by his ministry to develop available conventional and nonconventional water sources, including building dams, water harvest programmes, rehabilitation of water networks, water efficiency programmes and raising irrigation water's economic revenue.
UoJ President Khlaif Tarawneh said the conference is an opportunity to exchange data and scientific know-how to address water scarcity that the Middle East is suffering from, expressing hope that regional states would find solutions and devise policies between them that would reflect positively on their peoples.
The 3-day gathering, attended by water specialists from the region and the world, will debate 70 working papers on water security, water challenges across the Arab world, up-to-date rain water management techniques in addition to drought and water scarcity in the Horn of Africa.
Amman - The annual international conference on water resources opened at the University of Jordan UoJ on Sunday to discuss water security in the Middle East and the Mediterranean region.
In opening remarks at the gathering, organised by the UoJ Centre of Water, Energy and Environment in a partnership with the Euro-Arab Organization for Environment, Water and Desert Researches, Minister of Water and Irrigation Mohammad Najjar said the Arab world was facing the enormous challenge of rising demand on water and scarce resources.
Najjar, who deputized for Prime Minister Fayez Tarawneh at the opening session, said the water shortage was a result of using up cross-border sources exacerbated by climate change.
"The present condition of water requires a firm stand to assess the status quo and put short-, medium- and long-term strategies and executive programmes to achieve sustainable development requirements using innovational methods that rise to the level of the challenges," he added.
The minister called for fair and equitable sharing of cross-border water sources by upstream and downstream states through adhering to international conventions, adding: "We in Jordan are facing chronic imbalances in the water-population equation," pointing out that the Kingdom's per capita share of water is one of the lowest in the world.
He outlined projects underway by his ministry to develop available conventional and nonconventional water sources, including building dams, water harvest programmes, rehabilitation of water networks, water efficiency programmes and raising irrigation water's economic revenue.
UoJ President Khlaif Tarawneh said the conference is an opportunity to exchange data and scientific know-how to address water scarcity that the Middle East is suffering from, expressing hope that regional states would find solutions and devise policies between them that would reflect positively on their peoples.
The 3-day gathering, attended by water specialists from the region and the world, will debate 70 working papers on water security, water challenges across the Arab world, up-to-date rain water management techniques in addition to drought and water scarcity in the Horn of Africa.
© Jordan News Agency - Petra 2012
