Abdul Hannan Tago in the Arab News (Saudi Arabia): Minister of Water and Electricity Abdullah Al-Hussayen yesterday raised the alarm by saying the Arab world would witness a severe water crisis by the year 2025. Al-Hussayen, who is also chairman of the National Water Company, attributed the alarming situation to the growing consumption at the opening ceremony of 10th Water Desalination Conference in the Arab Countries (ARWADEX 2012) at the InterContinental Hotel in Riyadh.He said most Arabs are neither conscious of the acute problem nor of the magnitude of the looming disaster. The minister inaugurated the event on behalf of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, who conveyed his greetings to the participants and guests of the Kingdom. The four-day conference will discuss the latest techniques and methods of water desalination in the region.
The minister warned of an impending environmental disaster as a result of climate change and global warming. He cited a reliable report which indicates that the major cause of climate change was the uneven distribution of rain, leading to heavy rainfall or flooding in some areas and scant or no rainfall elsewhere.
He said that as a result of the situation Arab countries will face by the end of this century a decline of up to 25 percent in precipitation due to a high rate of evaporation. Another major concern was that global warming could lead to a decline in agricultural productivity of up to 20 percent....
Satellite photo of King Khalid Military City, Saudi Arabia taken June 30th, 2002. From NASA
No comments:
Post a Comment