11 December 2014: The Third Arab Water Forum closed with a reminder to all participants that “regional realities” and innovative solutions must be part of the regional input to addressing global water challenges, in a call by Benedito Braga, President of the World Water Council, at the forum in Cairo, Egypt.

The regional forum convened from 9-11 December 2014, drawing 600 representatives of government water agencies, NGOs and the private sector. The event was organized to prepare input to the 7th World Water Forum, which will take place in the Republic of Korea in April 2015.

The Arab Water Forum took place on the theme of ‘Together Towards a Secure Arab Water Future,’ focusing on the issues of water for food, water for cities, water for energy, transboundary water and ‘Smart IWRM’ (Integrated Water Resources Management).

The first day of the forum focused on water governance issues, including a session on UN partnershps for transboundary aquifer governance. The second day discussed how to make the future of water in the Arab region secure and sustainable, including sessions on adaptation to climate change, groundwater governance, and the Regional Initiative on Water Scarcity, convened by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), League of Arab States (LAS), and the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation of Egypt. The third and final day discussed Arab integration for food security under conditions of water scarcity, including guidelines for brackish water use, and improving agricultural water productivity. Conference publicity material noted that Arab countries use about 85% of their water resources for agriculture.

Ministers and senior officials at the meeting included representatives of LAS and the World Bank, ministers of water resources and agriculture, and the former heads of state of Jordan and Sudan.

The Arab Water Forum takes place every three years, bringing together policy makers, scientists, practitioners and civil society to discuss how water challenges can be addressed as opportunities for sustainable development and how water security in the Arab region can be achieved.

At the close of the forum, the Arab Water Council announced it would submit a proposal to organize a thematic session during the 7th World Water Forum as the regional input to the World Water Forum. [World Water Council Press Release] [Arab Water Council Introduction] [Forum Programme] [Links to Presentations]