University of Jordan News - The third conference of the Energy, Water, Food and Environment Association kicked off today, Tuesday, under the patronage of His Highness Prince Hasan bin Talal.
In his speech during the opening session of the conference organized by the University of Jordan in cooperation with the German Foundation for International Cooperation (GIZ), which lasts for two days, His Highness stressed the necessity of involving stakeholders and local communities in pursuing strategies to address the challenges of water, energy, food, and environmental systems, in order to achieve citizenship. And belonging through work.
His Highness pointed out, according to World Bank figures, that 40% of the world's population is living under the impact of the water scarcity crisis, and that by 2040, an estimated one in four children will live in areas suffering from severe water shortages, and reports from the Food and Agriculture Organization show Food production must increase by 70% by 2050 to feed a projected global population of 9.7 billion, all while mitigating the environmental impacts of agriculture.
His Highness pointed out that these and other numbers and statistics confirm the need for a real and effective will to find policies to implement the natural interplay between water, energy, food and ecosystems.
His Highness stressed the importance of creating a regional water and energy community to link the Levant countries, similar to the European Coal and Steel Community.
His Highness called for the importance of stabilizing people in their land, enhancing the value of human dignity, and maximizing community investment in the service of stability and economic modernization, ensuring the distribution of benefits to different regions.
His Highness pointed out the repercussions of the war on Gaza and its consequences, the extent of the destruction inflicted on people and the agricultural, water, energy and food sectors, and the necessity of monitoring the impact of the aggression on the sector.
In turn, the Acting President of the University of Jordan, Dr. Ashraf Abu Karaki, said, “At the University of Jordan, we realize that we must work together to produce a comprehensive strategic vision based on the interconnection between water, energy, food, and the environment, which enables us to achieve development and ensures the sustainability of resources in the long term."
He added, "For this, we seek to target cooperation between different sectors and exchange of knowledge, and we are keen to encourage scientific research in innovative environmental technology that increases the efficiency of resource use and improves the quality of the environment."
He added that our role does not stop at spreading science and knowledge through traditional methods. Rather, we must, in universities and society as well, play an educational awareness role that emphasizes the role of students and graduates in building a better future for themselves and for society.
Abu Karaki confirmed that the Deanship of Scientific Research recently established research groups, twenty-five of which are specialized in research related to energy, water, food and the environment, aiming to attract researchers from Jordan and abroad to work on joint projects. Researchers have been able in the last five years, through the university's various faculties such as engineering. And agriculture, and research centers, such as the Hamdi Mango Center and the Center for Water, Energy and Environment, in addition to the university's agricultural stations in the Jordan Valley and Al-Muwaqqar and the Marine Sciences Station in Aqaba, published more than five thousand research papers, achieving the sustainable development goals at a rate of approximately fifty percent of the total previously published. University in international magazines.
He pointed out that the value of support provided for research in the four fields increased from 139 thousand for the year 2022 to 250 thousand for the last year 2023.
For his part, the Acting German Ambassador to Jordan, Florian Rendel, said that the scarcity of water resources in Jordan, along with the increasing demand for them for drinking, irrigation, etc., requires the development of a clear methodology that confirms that sustainable development is an essential link between water and energy.
He pointed out that this conference seeks to exchange information and experiences within fruitful dialogues to build good relations between the two countries and leave their effects across generations.
For his part, the head of the conference's preparatory committee, Dr. Ahmed Al-Salaymeh, said that the University of Jordan held multiple and global partnerships with different universities and research centers in order to participate in the conference.
Al-Salaymeh added that governance of the legal frameworks for the Energy, Water, Food and Environment Association has been established and a committee has been established in this regard.
The opening session was followed by a discussion session on the challenges and prospects of the interconnection between energy, water, food and the environment, in which the Minister of Environment, Dr. Muawiyah Al-Radaida, the Minister of Water and Irrigation, Engineer Raed Abu Al-Saud, and the Mayor of Amman, Dr. Yousef Al-Shawarba, participated, in addition to representatives of ministries and government bodies.