The Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources, ACSAD, and ESCWA/Workshop
The Arab Centre for the Studies of Arid Zones and Drylands ACSAD has held today at its headquarters a workshop on climate changes and underground water in cooperation with the Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia “ESCWA”, which spans for four days.
The Arab Centre’s Director-General said at the opening of the workshop that this workshop came to enhance the ties of the cooperation between the Arab Centre and the sisterly Iraqi Ministry in the light of the scarcity of water resources in our Arab region; that is facing at the same time severe climate changes force all of us to come together to find the appropriate solutions.
He also confirmed that this workshop came within the commission that ACSAD has been keen to achieve sincerely since its establishment as a house of Arab experience serving the common Arab developmental goals; the Arab strategy of the water security confirmed to address the future challenges and requirements of the sustainable development and its executive plans (2010 – 2030.)
His Excellency, Dr Obaid, explained that the strategy included the main axe related to addressing climate change phenomena, their impacts on the underground and surface water resources in the Arab region and the ways of adaptation to it.
The executive plan also included within its principal axes a call for supporting the activities enhancing the ability to evaluate the vulnerability to climate change in water resources; identifying the adaptation procedures to their impacts. He also emphasized that the Centre had prioritized primarily, during the latest years, climate change and adapting to its impacts, where many studies had been implemented in this field. One of the most important was studying climate change in the Arab region and their impacts on the water resources (RICCAR), which the Arab Centre had achieved in cooperation with the ESCWA organization and other international organizations.
The Arab Centre has implemented several modules of the safe drawing for underground water in many Arab countries that limit the severe climate change impacts on these countries, hoping to adopt and benefit from them in all Arab countries.
He also explained that the Arab Centre would implement new other projects in the years to come, organizing forums, workshops, and training courses within the convention that it would sign with the Iraqi Ministry during the workshop to establish constructive and fruitful cooperation between the two sides. To frame the joint activities within specific programs, sharing knowledge and experiences, benefitting from the latest scientific developments and upgraded techniques to serve its mutual programs and goals in strengthening water security, particularly in the Iraqi Republic and the Arab world.
Several researchers and experts from the Arab Centre are giving many lectures to spotlight the ACSAD’s experiences in the field of underground water and evaluate the climate change effect on this water, while a group of the Iraqi Ministry’s and ESCWAS’ experts are presenting lectures on the underground water Modelling and the newest climatical modules available for the Arab region.
