HRH Prince Khaled Chairs 6th Arab Water Council Meeting

arab_council_6th_meeting_smallThe Arab Water Council held its 6th Board of Governors Meeting in Rabat, Morocco on 22-23 December 2010 under the sponsorship of H.E. Eng. Abdelkebir Zahoud – Morocco’s State Secretary for Water and the Environment.

PSIPW Council Chairman and Saudi Arabia’s Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General for Military Affairs, HRH Prince Khaled bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, was in Morocco to chair the meeting.

Prince Khaled bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, in his capacity of honorary chairman of the Arab Water Council, called for the “drafting and implementation of proactive laws and effective water policies to regulate patterns of consumption and combat water wastage.” He also recommended “expanding the role of the government water agencies from that of water supplier to one of water regulator and developer.” He each country to “develop a strategic plan for water management suited for its particular needs and circumstances.”

Prince Khalid, while chairing the two-day meeting, stressed on the need of Arab governments to address the problem of water from three angles:

[1] management know-how: to achieve economic efficiency, social justice, and environmental sustainability.

[2] political will: to enact the reforms necessary to support water management.

[3] national authority, both economic and political: to carry through with water policy and to prevent the abuse, theft and misappropriation of water resources.

He said during the meeting that “the great challenges facing the Arab region over the medium to long term arise from the scarcity of fresh water and the increasingly high demands placed on those resources by the population at a time when water resources are dwindling as a consequence of climate change and unreasonable consumption patterns.”

He also warned that the presence of internationally contested water resources poses the serious threat of possible future regional conflicts over water. He quoted experts as saying that the Arab region invests $75 billion annually to meet the challenges of keeping water, energy and food available, an especially daunting task now as the Arab region is more vulnerable to the negative impact of global warming than other parts of the world. Declining rainfall caused by climate change impacts heavily upon the region’s agricultural efforts, which consume about 85 percent of the total water sources. At this time, 13 Arab states are ranked among the most water-poor countries in the world, at least 8 of which have an annual per capita of only 200 cubic meters of water.

Morocco’s State Secretary for Water and the Environment, Abdkaber Zuhod, said: “About 80 percent of the total area of the Arab world is arid or semi-arid, and Arab water resources constitute less than 1 percent of world’s renewable water resources. Per capita water availability in the Arab region does not exceed one thousand cubic meters annually, compared to the 7 thousand cubic meter per capita world average.”

Zuhod added that: “the Arab region faces challenges and constraints of an unprecedented scale, including a real threat to water security and a severe overlap of environmental, social, economic, developmental, and strategic concerns.”

He stressed: “The Arab region needs to formulate a clear strategic objective to ensure water security, one which also takes into consideration water resources that come from outside the Arab world.”

He called for the integration of the efforts of Arab states in addressing water issues and coordinating their efforts, and encouraged international forums to take advantage of the Arab experience, including Morocco, which since the sixties has led the way in the construction of dams that provide water for drinking and agriculture, for all people in all circumstances.

The Secretary-General of the Arab Water Council, Safwat Abd El Dayem, said: “Modern technologies are the best way to provide alternative water resources to alleviate the water scarcity in the Arab world which has come about as the result of population growth, urbanization, and economic expansion. Desalination technologies can be adopted by a number of Arab countries, as is presently the case in the Gulf. Then there is the re-use of treated wastewater which we can see in some countries like Singapore.” He pointed out that: “Saudi Arabia produces about 30 percent of the world’s total desalinated sea-water.”

HRH Prince Khaled’s appeal to think strategically about the impending water crisis were well-received by the Arab Water Council, which agreed at the meeting to establish the Center for Strategic Water Studies and Water Management, which will award a higher diploma in Strategic Water Studies and an MBA in Water Management.

The Center will be based in Morocco, and will be funded by a commitment of SR 5 million provided by HRH Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General.

PSIPW’s General Secretary Dr. Abdulmalek A. Al Alsheikh was chosen to be on the committee charged with the task of establishing the Center. Also, the Prize’s research chair at King Saud University and the Prince Khaled Bin Sultan Chair for Water Research will cooperate with the new center’s academic programs.

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