 |
|
The Arab region is one of the most arid regions of the world
|
BY
Nadia El-Awady, IOL Staff
KYOTO,
March 18 (IslamOnline.net) – As the world holds its breath, in
anticipation of a war on Iraq, speakers at the Third World Water
Forum, held currently in Japan, discussed the water crisis in the Arab
world, urging more cooperation between Arab countries in research and
development.
Mona
El-Kady from Egypt’s National Water Research Center started her
opening statement in the “Water in the Arab Countries” session at
the 3rd World Water Forum by speaking about targeting Arab
water resources and environmental terrorism.
El-Kady
stressed that world actions today are “backed by law of power that
completely disregards the power of law.”
This
year’s 3rd World Water Forum comes on the backdrop of a
very tense situation in the Middle East, and although Japan seems far
away from the actual crisis, participants in the forum here,
especially those of Arab origin, are tensely aware that war is
looming.
IslamOnline’s
press delegation to the forum were flocked by Japanese press
representatives after they discovered they had placed stickers on
conference tables stating, “No War on Iraq.”
Mahmoud
Abu Zeid, President of the World Water Council and Egyptian Minister
of Water Resources and Irrigation explained at the “Water in the
Arab Countries” session that “60% of Arab water originates from
outside the region”, making it a major security issue; and that
while some states can afford desalination, there are many others that
cannot.
Another
speaker, Atef Hamdy, Director of Research at the CIHEAM/Mediterranean
Agronomic Institute in Bari, Italy, said that the Arab World is facing
one of the most severe cases of water scarcity in the entire world.
Annual
renewable water resources in the Arab region average about 350 bcm
(billion cubic meters). Of
this, about 125 bcm or 35% of the total renewable regional average of
338 bcm are provided by river flows from outside the region: 56 bcm by
the Nile, 28 bcm by the Euphrates and 38 bcm by the Tigris and its
tributaries.
Countries
depending on river inflow from other countries for more than half
their renewable water are Egypt at 97%, Syria at 79%, Sudan at 77% and
Iraq at 66%.
Hamdy
also stressed that per capita consumption rates in the Arab region
were the lowest in the world and were expected to further decrease to
double or triple present levels within the next 3 years.
The
Arab region is one of the most arid regions of the world. 83% of the Arab world area, except Sudan and Somalia,
receives less than 100mm/year rainfall and about 13% receives from
100-400 mmy/year rainfall while not more than 4% of the total Arab
area exceeds 400 mm/year.
According
to a World Bank report, all top ten driest countries in the world are
Arab countries.
Rated
by annual water quantity available per inhabitant, Kuwait was at the
top of the list with 0, the United Arab Emirates following with
71,000, then followed subsequently by Jordan (148,000), Libya
(148,000), Israel (180,000), Yemen (241,000), Oman (426,000), Tunisia
(434,000) and Algeria (477,000).
Focusing
on the concept of “more crop per drop”, Ismail Serag El-Din,
President of Alexandria University and Chair of the World Commission
on Water, explained that the Arab world should make optimum use of
state-of-the-art biotechnology to compensate for the 2200 l/day
required to produce the average calorie consumption needed for human
sustenance. 82% of
available water resources in the region are currently being used for
irrigation purposes.
Soil
erosion, pollution, food insecurity and salt-water intrusion in many
of the coastal aquifers of the regions were also issues addressed in
the session.
For
solutions, speakers focused on integration instead of fragmentation
and consolidation together with solidarity to solve the present water
crisis in the Arab world.
Countries
in the Arab world were encouraged to coordinate to exchange their
expertise in the different relevant areas, including research and
development, with particular emphasis on surface and ground water, in
addition to enhancing the participation of water users and
stakeholders.
Finally,
financing was touched upon with $100 billion a year required to
improve maintenance of present water systems and reduce current rates
of production loss.
“The
spirit of Islam is peace upon everyone,” explained Mona El-Kadi. The
reasons behind terrorism are not Islam or being Arab, rather they are
“poverty, injustice resulting from inequity and double standards, in
addition to a sense of hopelessness” that are the main causes of
terrorism.
As
the 3rd World Water Forum continues in Japan, Arabs cannot
possibly separate themselves from what is now happening thousands of
kilometers away.
