Round Table on Challenges of Water and Food Security in Arab World

Doha, December 06 (QNA) - HE Chairman of the Subcommittee for Organizing the United Nations Conference on climate change (COP18), the CEO of Qatar National Food Security program and Board member of World Water Council Fahd Bin Mohamed Al-Attiyah has underlined that Qatar takes the issue of food security seriously. HE Fahad bin Mohamed Al-Attiyah during discussion session today at the conference on (the challenges of water and food security in the Arab region) said that the State of Qatar is running two programs for food security, A national program and an international one. He said that "Qatar National Food Security Program' looks mainly into how to face the biggest challenge in this century; the challenge of food security and water by 2024. He talked about challenges facing the Arab region, Including Qatar, besides climate change such as availability of renewable water resources and rapid demographic growth, pointing that Qatar Imports 90 percent of its food needs. He emphasized the need for taking all the opportunities to face the issues related to food security, and added that Qatar is working towards the use of alternative energy. HE Fahad bin Mohamed Al-Attiyah stressed the importance of coordinating the efforts of Qatar National Food Security Program with similar regional programs in order to face the food security challenges. He said that Qatar along with other 15 countries and the UN General Secretariat decided to establish a coalition of the countries most affected by food and water security issues to meet on a political level and these challenges utilizing the scientific and technical treasures available from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and other UN agencies, stressing the importance of mobilizing support and political will in order to reach the required solutions. He added that the Arab world is facing major challenges in the areas of water and food, adding that the World Bank report, which was announced here yesterday on the situation in the Arab world and climate adaptation showed how much Arab countries are affected by this problem in terms of natural resource exhaustion. In this regard he noted that the Arab countries are of the most food-importing in the world, despite the fact that the Arab countries recorded a high level of demographic growth. He went on to say that all these factors combined with climate change make the future of the region away from what we perceive and may be ahead unpleasant surprises. He stressed the importance of concerted efforts to meet the challenges in the Arab region, which needs more water to increase production, pointing that the reports of the World Economic Forum and the specialized agencies indicate that there will be no enough water to secure food in the Arab region, explaining that it is urgent to address water and food scarcity to meet their future needs. For his part, the Executive Director of the Global Alliance for Dryland Ambassador Bader Omar Al-Dafaa confirmed that the world and the Arab region in particular are faced by many challenges due to the acute shortage of water and food resources. He pointed out that the population growth in the Arab region has increased at a rate three times higher than what it is in the world, while agricultural productivity in decline. He said that Qatar, which imports more than 90 percent of its food from other countries agricultural, relies almost by 99.9 per cent on desalinated drinking water. He stated that the Global Alliance for Dryland led by the State of Qatar will be a new concept for a collaborative initiative that responds to the challenges of food and water in the dry lands in the twenty-first century. He added that the Alliance is receiving increasing support from many countries and the international community, noting in this regard that the it received in September at the last meetings of the General Assembly of the United Nations the support of various UN agencies. Al-Dafaa noted that the progress of the alliance requires international partnerships at a time when many countries, some of them are not dry lands, have expressed desire to join it. The UN Development Program (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark talked about the big challenges facing many countries regarding water, food and climate change, saying that UNDP is expecting 20per cent of the world's population to be exposed to hunger by mid this century. Stressing that water scarcity is one of the key issues in the region, she pointed that 15 Arab countries are below the poverty line in terms of water, and noted that the poorer countries are more affected by food security issues. Helen Clerk lauded the measures taken by Qatar in respect to food security and said that Arab countries started the search of creative solutions to the food security quest. The Moroccan minister of Energy, Mines, Water, and Environment Fouad Al-Douiri said that water and food security issue is related to human development, noting that Morocco has established a program for building rural areas inhabitants' capacities so they can help developing their areas. He added that Morocco has an efficient-use-based strategy for water, in addition to endeavors to increase the phosphate production and using it as a fertilizer. A group of Arab youth participating in COP18, who attended the round table, made several interventions at the end of the Round Table. (QNA)