With the Participation of 320 Researchers Representing 72 Countries

H.E Zaki Anwar Nusseibeh, the Cultural Advisor to His Highness the President of the United Arab Emirates and Chancellor of the UAE University, witnessed yesterday on February 26th, 2024, the launch of the 2nd International Conference on Water Resources Management and Sustainability: Solutions for Arid Regions. Which will last for 3 days and with the participation of 350 researchers representing 72 countries that discusses 320 research paper. 

H.E Zaki Anwar Nusseibeh noted in his opening statement that “ Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan - may god have mercy on him -  believed in the importance of environment and preserving water resources, and following his footsteps the UAE has taken major steps in the field of environmental action and our wise leadership continued the focus on the issue of water, setting its goal to find new efficient means and mechanisms to protecting water from all the wastage factors and to open new future prospects for new additional resources.” 

His Excellency stressed that “this conference comes in line with the UAE Water Security Strategy 2036 that aims to ensure water sustainability, continuity of water accessibility on natural and extreme emergency circumstances. In an effort to pursuit social well-being and prosperity and the sustainability of the national economy growth.”

For his part, Professor Dr. Ahmad Ali Murad, Co-Deputy for Scientific Research noted that this conference aims to showcase the latest scientifical research and innovations related to various issues on water resources management and water scarcity challenges and using AI and modeling for data analysis to develop strategic plans to achieve water resources sustainability in addition to water harvesting, underground reservoirs and flash flooding resulting from rainfall.

He also added, this conference is a part of the UAE University map for COP28 and beyond, as it also supports the national efforts in achieving sustainability and since it focuses in its sessions on drought related challenges and different technology related solutions as main tools to look ahead to the future of scientific research related to issues of water. 350 researchers and specialists representing 72 countries participated in the conference, which confirms the great and important scientifical standing of the conference which emphasizes that the water issue is a global responsibility. 320 various research papers related to the conferences main themes were showcased as it focuses on the diversity in presenting the best scientific practices. Where 50 studies from Indian scientists will be presented, in addition to 27 research study from the USA and 27 research from Morocco. The number of sessions of the conference reached 31 scientific sessions held during the period of the conference.

Dr. Ahmad Ali Murad Conference Chancellor, stated that a special session was devoted to Sultan Qaboos University to showcase the latest scientific researches, in addition to the participation of 15 Omani scientists from other Omani universities and 16 scientifical research form the KSA. These numbers confirm the success of the first edition of the conference which reflected on the rise of number of participants in the current conference as number of participant countries increased from 57 countries in the first edition to 72 countries in the current edition. 

Professor Dave White, Associate Vice President for Research Advancement at Arizona State University, spoke at the opening ceremony about the global challenges and the means to achieve sustainability in arid regions. Professor VJ Singh from University of Texas A&M, USA also spoke about emergency elements in arid lands hydrology. The Organizing Committee of the Conference devoted 3 scientific awards to the best scientific poster, best presentation, and best research for a postgraduate student. Several institutions, bodies and ministries participated by presenting 50 research papers related to water management and sustainability and solutions to water sustainability challenges, which contributes to strengthening the University's global position as a center for building science and knowledge and finding scientific solutions to societal challenges.

Scientific trips were also organized for participants to learn about the geology of Fujairah Mountain regions, as well as another trip to identify the countries dams that aims to highlight the countries efforts to build dams to harvest rainwater to feed underground reservoirs.