Prince Hassan calls for joint database to strengthen food, water security

AMMAN — Under the patronage of HRH Prince Hassan a seminar within the Future Dams Project was launched on Monday. 

Future Dams is a three-day workshop on river system modelling and planning, and is organised by National Information Centre for Science and Technology (NICST), in cooperation with Methods of Irrigation and Agriculture (MIRRA) and the University of Manchester.

Prince Hassan called for the creation of a joint database that will establish an integrated participatory work at the Levant level, aimed to strengthen food, water and humanitarian security.

During his speech, Prince Hassan highlighted the need to activate regional cooperation and dialogue between countries, as well as sharing data and information related to water in order to move from the theoretical stage to implementation. 

“We need to utilise modern and innovative scientific tools to promote dialogue and discussion on issues regarding cross-border water rights,” Samer Talouzi, a water management expert, said during his remarks. 

He added that researchers in this field have scientific tools that contribute to facilitating the exchange of view points between politicians and decision makers in different countries, in order to enable them to reach compromises that satisfy all parties’ needs and contribute to reducing water disputes in the Middle East. 

During the session, Julien Harou, professor at the University of Manchester, presented innovative and modern scientific tools developed through the Future Dams project.

“The tools are able to contribute to facilitating research and negotiation of the difficult water issues facing the Middle East and Africa, namely the Nile River and the Tigris and Euphrates rivers,” he added. 

The Future Dams project, managed by the University of Manchester, is a research project funded by United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI), aimed to improve the planning and governance of water, food, energy and environmental resource systems, according to a statement by the NICST. 

The statement added that Future Damsaims to contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) SDG7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) SDG 13 (Climate Action) and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions).