Sustainability experts, business innovators and members of the academia gathered at the International Water Summit (IWS) to discuss sustainable solutions to the region’s water challenges.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – the intergovernmental union that includes most Arab states in the Arabian Gulf – has set aside over AED 1 trillion ($300 billion) to be invested in water sustainability projects between 2012 and 2022. These will help develop new water conservation technology in the region.
Among the new inventions revealed during IWS is a water vending machine able to transform air into 1,800 litres of pure water every day; an automated machine that can easily decontaminate large areas of terrain using sensors and online data; and a farming product that when mixed with soil reduces the need for irrigation by 40 per cent.
Many speakers from all over the world attended the conferences, discussing topics such as water governance and policy, how to develop energy-efficient and clean technology for desalination, how to improve water re-use and performance and how to make the best use of water in commercial building and industries.
Regional experts and international speakers took part in the debate, including media and political figureheads such as Jeremy Bowen, BBC Middle East editor, and Ségolène Royal, the French minister of ecology, sustainable development and energy.
Two workshops were also hosted. Paris Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi explored the legal framework around water resource management, discussing problems such as how to protect the quality of groundwater. Masdar Institute of Science and Technology hosted a workshop on the marine and coastal environment in the Arabian Gulf and discussed how to face the sustainability challenges connected to it.
Water security is an important topic of discussion for the Middle East and North Africa area and one of the region’s most important economic and security issues, especially as the population is
rapidly expanding.
IWS has been hosted together with the World Future Energy Summit and EcoWaste at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre as part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.
