Successful consultation of WANA Forum on the Challenges of Water Scarcity in WANA

WANA Forum initiative organised a consultation aimed at devising policy recommendations pertaining to transboundary water management in Amman (Jordan), from 22 to 24 February 2011. Water Security was a central theme of WANA Forum 2010, where regional experts warned that the wars of the 21st century will be fought over water. Climate change will only exacerbate problems in a region already stressed by lack of water, food and political and social unrest. Across the Arc of Crisis, from Somalia, Sudan and Egypt in Africa to Yemen, Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan in West Asia, water scarcity in the region has already lead to drought and famine, loss of livelihood, the spread of water-borne diseases, forced migrations and open conflict. Water scarcity is closely linked to food and health security, making better water management a key stepping stone for poverty reduction and economic growth. HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal’s concept of a Community of Water and Energy for the Human Environment takes an integrated approach to water, hunger, climate, health and poverty, with a view to averting future conflict with concentric circles of cooperation. This consultation was the occasion for the WANA Forum experts to poursuit their efforts and finish the policy brief on water scarcity and drought in the WANA region to be presented in the next WANA Forum to be held next May in Amman (Jordan).

The last day of the consultation took place in the Royal Scientific Society (RSS) in Amman, with the presence of HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal, and among others former minister: Dr. Munther Haddadin, General Secretary of the Ministry of water and irrigation: Eng. Maysoon Zoubi, Dr. Walid Saleh, the regional coordinator of UNU-INWEH, Dr. Mokhtar Hashemi from the University of Newcastle (UK), Raya Stephane (water lawyer), Dr. Noreddine Ghaffour from KAUFST, Dr. Jauad El Kharraz from EMWIS, Dr. Khadija Darmame (Researcher at the French Institute of the Near East), Dr. Tarek Merabtene (Water Resource professor in the Sharjah University, UAE) and Dr. Murad J. Bino, the Executive Director of the Inter-Islamic Network on Water Resources Development and Management in Amman, and many other personalities. EMWIS has participated in this consultation and contributes to the policy brief paper.