emirates7 - Under the patronage of Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, and David Spears, Minister of Environment and Water of South ‎Australia, the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) ‎is organising the "Water Resources Management ‎and Sustainability: Solutions in Dry Areas" ‎conference from 22nd-24th March 2022 in ‎cooperation with Australia Pavilion at Expo 2020 ‎Dubai.

The conference is co-organised by the ‎UAEU National Water and Energy Centre in ‎collaboration with the South Australian Institute ‎for Water Research.‎ Prof. Ahmed Ali Murad, Associate Provost for ‎Research and Conference Chairman, stressed that ‎the conference comes in line with the university’s ‎vision to support development and priority of ‎UAE, and in accordance with country's agenda for ‎advanced sciences 2031 and its water ‎security strategy 2036.

He explained that there ‎are several factors including, among others, ‎population growth, urbanisation and climate ‎change that contribute to the scarcity of fresh ‎water resources in arid and semi-arid regions. The ‎water shortage problem constitutes a major ‎constraint to sustainable development, and poses ‎significant challenges to the use and management ‎of water resources.

"This conference aims to ‎discuss global water issues and address future ‎challenges in line with the theme of Expo 2020 ‎Dubai - Connecting Minds, Creating the Future. ‎This vision also adopts the theme of World ‎Water Day this year," he noted.

He added, this conference ‎represents an important platform for exchanging ‎and presenting new visions and introducing ‎innovative techniques and unconventional ‎practices that would improve the future of water ‎management and sustainability in arid and semi-‎arid regions around the world. The conference ‎will help to discover appropriate solutions for ‎the future challenges in the field of water resource ‎management and sustainability.‎ Dr. Mohsen Sharif, Director of the National ‎Water and Energy Centre, explained that the ‎conference programme expands for four days, ‎including 6 interactive workshops to be delivered ‎by international experts, on several topics such ‎as: applications of modern water technologies, ‎geographic information systems, remote sensing ‎and artificial intelligence, climate change impacts, ‎water sustainability and others.

In addition to ‎‎132 keynote and oral presentations, 32 poster ‎presentations will be made on water harvesting, ‎groundwater recharge, desalination technologies, ‎wastewater treatment and reuse, and climate ‎change. In collaboration with the Ministry of ‎Energy and Infrastructure, a field visit to the ‎Rafisah Dam in Khor Fakkan ‎will be organised.‎