Water scarcity: Same challenge, different answers
The Policy Center for the New South is organizing a webinar on Monday, April 12th, at 10:00 (GMT), titled: Water scarcity: Same challenge, different answers.
Water resources have become increasingly scarce in several regions of the world, particularly in arid and semi-arid zones. Countries located in these regions are constrained by water scarcity due to their hydro-climatic characteristics and intra- and interannual rainfall fluctuations. In addition to these attributes, the negative effects of climate change result in a considerable increase in temperature and a consequent decrease in rainfall. According to IPCC estimates, the decrease in precipitation in these areas can reach up to 20% (IPCC, 2008). As far as temperature is concerned, it is supposed to increase, favoring water evaporation. According to the same source, the increase in temperature will be different according to regions. It will be 1°C in the Maghreb basin.
In addition to the decrease in water availability, its demand is constantly increasing for several reasons. Firstly, population growth, which generates additional and inelastic demand for water. Secondly, the massive urbanization that some countries are experiencing requires a new organization of the sector to supply the cities with drinking water. And finally, the requirements of socio-economic development to achieve the expected levels of growth.
Given these observations, water resource management is of extreme importance in countries suffering from water scarcity, particularly the MENA countries and some sub-Saharan African countries. In front of this scarcity, many governments had put in place policies and programs to manage water to make better and sustainable use of it. In the light of these elements, this webinar attempts to answer the following questions:
- What is the situation of water resources in African and MENA countries?
- How are governments responding to water scarcity?
- How can this problem be addressed in the future and what is the role of technology?
The event will be broadcast live on our website, Facebook and YouTube.
For more information, please send us an email at: events@policycenter.ma
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10:00 – 10:50
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Water scarcity: Same challenge, different answers
Moderator : Fatima Ezzahra Mengoub, Agroeconomist, Policy Center for the New South Speakers: Mohamed Ait Kadi, President, General Council of Agricultural Development Alexandru Cosmin Buteica, Water Supply and Sanitation Specialist, World Bank Guy Jobbins, Director, Astande Rabi Mohtar, Senior Fellow, Policy Center for the New South Josefa Sacko, Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, African Union Commission |
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10:50 – 11:30 |
Q&A session |
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Mohamed AIT KADI, President, General Council of Agricultural Development
Pr. Mohamed AIT KADI is presently President of the General Council of Agricultural Development. This Council is a high-level policy Think Tank of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development and Forestry in Morocco. He was also Secretary General of the Ministry and Director General of the Irrigation Department. He chairs the Scientific Committee of the Adaptation of African Agriculture Initiative (AAA).
He is a resident member of Academy Hassan II of Science and Technology. He is also member of the Academy of Agriculture of France as well as member of Oslo’s International Academy of Water and of the International Advisory Council of the World Bioeconomy Summit.
AIT KADI was chair of the Technical Committee of the Global Water Partnership. He was Governor and founding member of the World Water Council and President of the organizing committee of the first World Water Forum held in Marrakech in 1997. He is honorary vice-president of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID). He has served in many high-level international assignments. -
Alexandru Cosmin BUTEICA, Water Supply and Sanitation Specialist, World Bank
Alexandru Cosmin Buteica has been with the World Bank since 2013, working for the Water and Environment Global Practices in Europe and Central Asia (ECA), in the areas of climate change, environment and water services. He has contributed to developing and implementing several large technical assistance programs, knowledge products, and investment lending operations across the ECA region. Over the recent years he has worked on water security diagnostics, rural water supply and sanitation, and compliance with the EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive and EU Floods Directive. Prior to his years at the Bank, he worked in the corporate banking industry, focusing on sustainability and financial markets.
He holds an MScBA, specializing in Global Business and Stakeholder Management, with a focus on environmental sustainability, from Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (NL). He also studied in Santiago at the MBA program of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and traveled to Denmark, UAE and China to conduct research on water and environmental sustainability good practices. His current PhD research in Economics is focusing on sovereign wealth funds and their role in financing green growth. Cosmin has led and served in the boards of several NGOs, focusing on youth education, entrepreneurship and environmental issues, and was designated an Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leader by the Policy Center for the New South in 2015.
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Guy JOBBINS, Director, Astande
Guy Jobbins is Director at Astande and a Research Associate at the ODI in London. His work focuses on institutional, political and social dimensions of water security and climate resilience, with a particular interest in the North Africa and West Asia regions. Previously he was a Senior Research Fellow in Water Policy at the Overseas Development Institute, a Senior Programme Officer with Canada’s International Development Research Centre based in Cairo, and a Research Fellow at University College London
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Fatima Ezzahra MENGOUB, Agroeconomist, Policy Center for the New South
Fatima Ezzahra Mengoub is an economist at the Policy Center for the News South. She specializes in agricultural economics and works on several issues related to agricultural growth analysis, economic structural change, inter and intra-regional agricultural trade, natural resource management and food security. She has published various articles on the role of agricultural investment, agricultural value chains, productivity and technological change in agriculture and water management. She has also taught macroeconomics and microeconomics at the Hassan II Institute of Agronomy and Veterinary Sciences (IAV) and the School of Governance and Economics (EGE). She holds an engineering degree in agricultural economics from the Hassan II Institute of Agronomy and Veterinary Sciences and is preparing a doctoral thesis on the impact of technological changes induced by irrigation on agricultural growth in Morocco
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Rabi MOHTAR, Senior Fellow, Policy Center for the New South
Rabi H. Mohtar is a Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South and Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences at the American University of Beirut, who focuses on Civil and Biological/Agricultural Engineering, Environmental and Ecological Engineering, Water-Energy-Food Nexus, Water Security and Climate Change. He is also Professor at Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas and Adjunct Professor at Purdue University. He is the Founding Director of Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI) a member of Qatar Foundation, Research and Development and the Founding Director Strategic Projects at Qatar Foundation Research and Development. He was also the inaugural Director of the Global Engineering Programs at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.
Mohtar’s research addresses global resource challenges: developing the Water-Energy-Food Nexus framework linking science to policy, characterizing soil-water medium using thermodynamic modeling and non-traditional water applications for sustainable integrated water management.
He is a distinguished alumni of American University of Beirut (2014), recipient of the Ven Te Chow memorial award, International Water Resources association (2015) and Kishida International Award (2010).
Mohtar served on the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Councils on Water Security and on Climate Change (2009-2014). He is a governor of World Water Council since 2012. He has published over 200 published manuscripts include peer-reviewed journals, refereed conference proceedings, books and chapters [http://wefnexus.tamu.edu/].
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Josefa SACKO, Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, African Union Commission
H.E. Ambassador Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko, an Angolan national, is a leading African Agronomist and Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture of the African Union Commission. Prior to her election in January 2017, she was Special Adviser to two Ministers in Angola: The Angolan Minister of Environment where she also served as Ambassador responsible for Climate Change and advisor to the Minister of Agriculture in charge of Food Security and Poverty Reduction. Ambassador Sacko was also the former Secretary General of the Inter- African Coffee Organization (IACO), Abidjan Cote D’Ivoire for 13 years.
Ambassador Sacko has received numerous awards and recognition including: member of the United Nation’s Champions 12.3- a global coalition of sustainable food champions; and the Scale Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement Lead Group. She speaks fluent Portuguese, French, English and Spanish.