How can we improve cooperation and knowledge transfer between Germany and the countries of the Euro-Mediterranean region on issues of environmental protection and water management? What are the challenges and opportunities in addressing the water crisis in this region? These questions were discussed at the recent Water Forum, which was organized by the Euro Mediterranean Association for Cooperation and Development (EMA) on 11 and 12 March in Hamburg.



Representatives of the German water industry sat down with delegates from local water ministries to exchange their experiences with public-private partnerships in the sector. Broad topics of discussion included technical and financial opportunities and challenges. New technologies for desalination, water efficiency and water treatment developed by German companies can provide solutions to water problems in the Arab World.



Other topics, however, were largely ignored. Technical issues are clearly important— tourism sectors in water scarce regions, as on the Egyptian coast for example, already benefit from small desalination plants. Yet the water crisis—in the Arab region as in many other places—is today more a problem of water governance at the national and local levels than a technical crisis. The water resources available could be used in a much more efficient way, as up to 50 percent of the water mobilized is currently lost due to leakages and lacking maintenance of the infrastructure. Furthermore, governments need to make strategic decisions as to which economic sector should benefit from the available water. In addition, governments need to compensate those people like small farmers, who are both marginalized from water supply but also dependent on the resource.



Corruption is another key issue in the water sector, as it is rampant and impedes efficient and equitable distribution of the often scarce resource. Corruption is another example of a problem that is largely political, not technical. At the transboundary level, water management is also embedded into a sensitive political setting in the region including far reaching transboundary implications. The cases of Israel and Palestine, the tension along the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and along the Jordan Valley illustrate these dilemmas. Unfortunately, the conference did not raise these problems and thereby failed to address crucial issues of water management in the Arab world. (Annabelle Houdret)



The documentation of the conference including the presentations of the different panels is available online at http://ema-hamburg.org/pages/de/wasserforum/wasserforum-2010/dokumentation.php

Published in: ECC-Newsletter, April 2010