Professor CV Summary of submitted works

Your Royal Highness, Excellencies, colleagues and friends, ladies and gentlemen

It gives me very great pleasure to accept your Royal Highness’ prize for Water Resources Management in Arid and Semi-arid Regions, and particularly to accept the prize in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and in your Highness’ presence.

My experience of working on the hydrology and water resources of arid areas began in the Arabian peninsular 25 years ago, when I undertook the first Flood Study of the Sultanate of Oman. As a young man, I was overwhelmed by the hospitality and courteousness of the people of Arabia, and the beauty of the landscape, and excited by the scientific and technical challenges I encountered. Water is at its most precious in an arid environment, yet the science and practice of Hydrology is challenged – by the extreme variability of rainfall and flows, the consequent needs for high quality data records in an environment which is hostile to instrumentation, and by the need for an improved scientific understanding of wadi systems and their ancient history of management. Only then may we support effective and sustainable management under today’s pressures of economic development, land use and climate change.

Given these challenges, it was a great privilege, and my good fortune, to be invited a few years later to participate in a truly world-leading study in the South West of Saudi Arabia: the Five Wadis Representative Basins Study. This was a far-sighted initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Water, which provided the support for detailed monitoring of 5 wadis with dense raingauge and flow monitoring networks, plus climate, soil moisture and groundwater data, and full-time resident teams of field observers. With the guidance of colleagues such as Professor Abdulaziz Al-Turbak, and collaboration with other Saudi academics and researchers, this study provided important new insights into the response of wadi systems in Arabia, and provided the first comprehensive scientific research effort in wadi hydrology in the Arab Region. The project also introduced me to the warmth of the Saudi people and again, to the beauty of the Arabian landscape.

This experience provided me with a scientific lesson that has been influential throughout my career in Hydrology and in various parts of the world. Indeed this year has seen the completion of a similar 5 year £10 million intensive study I initiated of 3 river basins in the (in the UK context!) semi-arid regions of South East England. Once again this has provided invaluable new scientific insights and new tools for water resources management.

I have also been fortunate to work with UNESCO over many years, helping to promote improved understanding of the hydrology of arid regions and the sharing of experience in water resources management, first through the establishment of a Wadi Hydrology network for the Arab Region, and most recently, a global initiative, G-WADI. Despite limited resources, this initiative has used the power of the internet to reach out to centres and individuals worldwide to share knowledge, experience and the state-of-the-art developments in data and modelling that will support improved management of scarce resources and the protection of fragile ecosystems.

To conclude, my experience of the arid zones of the world has led me to work in some of the most beautiful parts of the globe and to understand a little of the traditional values of the people of the desert. Many of my richest personal experiences are associated with working in the deserts of Arabia – in Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the Gulf States. In addition I have learned important scientific lessons, and have had the opportunity, with UNESCO’s support, to share these with students and practitioners worldwide.

Your Royal Highness, it has been a far-sighted and most generous initiative to establish this important International Water Prize, and hence to reinforce the central importance of water in the arid and semi-arid regions of the world, and to encourage research and innovation in this area. I am extremely fortunate that my scientific peers have been so kind as to recommend me for this Prize. It is a great honour, which I most gratefully accept.