Ministers agree to establish water monitoring centre

2007-01-26

Tunisian, Libyan and Mauritanians minister agreed to establish a centre to monitor water resources and help devise strategies to combat fresh water shortages.

By Jamel Arfaoui for Magharebia in Tunis – 26/01/07

[Getty Images]

Maghrebi ministers agreed on Wednesday (January 24th) in Nouakchott to establish a Maghreb centre for monitoring water information as well as a Maghreb water and irrigation council. This is the second meeting of its kind in two years, and it included Maghrebi ministers in charge of water issues from Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania.

According to the Mauritanian News Agency, the ministers discussed "a comprehensive report on Maghrebi policy in the water sector, along with water resources terminology in the nations of the union and climate changes and their effects on water resources".

Omar Mohammed Salem, secretary of the Popular Committee of the General Water Board in Libya, delivered an address in which he asserted, "The challenges and aspirations of the peoples in the nations of the union for building it and strengthening the Maghreb area’s capacities require exerting more effort, implementing the recommendations and decisions prepared previously and engaging in contemplation for the sake of arriving at productive cooperation, the goal of which is sustainable development for water resources in the region."

Salem said the water situation in his country is suffering a crisis "attributable to several problems, including the geographical location, climate, population increase and others".

In 1995, the World Bank classified the Maghreb region as one of the poorest regions of the world in terms of renewable natural water resources. In Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria, these resources do not exceed 793 cubic metres per year per inhabitant, compared to 7,485 in southern Saharan Africa, 5,183 in Europe and 3,283 in Asia.

The Arab summit held in Algeria in 2005 issued a resolution for development of an Arab land-monitoring satellite. Its priorities include improving exploitation of natural agricultural resources and determining water resources in the region.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation deemed the Arab region located between the Atlantic Ocean and Iran to be among the regions suffering a shortage of water resources. It will need investment totalling around $40 billion over the next ten years to combat the severe shortage in fresh water supplies, which has become one of the main difficulties facing development in some strategic sectors such as agriculture, tourism and municipal services. According to the World Bank, Arab nations are likely to spend around 1% of their total GDP annually to ensure sufficient water resources, especially in cities, where large population centres are located.

Minister of Water in Mauritania Ely Ould Ahmed said he hopes "for the Maghreb ministerial council for water and irrigation to become an active agency, through which a Maghreb policy will be drawn up, the goal being to supply all residents in nations of the union with water under the best circumstances and in a permanent way."

He said his country’s government has set down an ambitious strategy that focuses on deepening knowledge of water resources and their protection, as well as improving delivery of potable water by constructing hundreds of water installations, strengthening sewage facilities and activating existing equipment.