"Water Resources and Sustainable Development" at the discussion table of the Nasser Fellowship for International Leadership

Today, Thursday evening, the Ministry of Youth and Sports concluded the activities of the ninth day of the Nasser Fellowship for International Leadership  in its third edition, with a dialogue session on “Water Resources and Sustainable Development.”  participants in this dialogue session were: Dr. Abbas Sharaki, Professor of Geology and Water Resources at Cairo University,  Dr. Jihan Abdel Salam, Professor of Economics at the Faculty of Higher African Studies  At Cairo University, and  Amira Sayed, a journalist in the Egyptian Gazette and Egypt’s representative in the International Water Parliament for Youth. It was moderated by Hassan Ghazali, General Coordinator of the Nasser Fellowship for International Leadership.

During his speech at the closing dialogue session of the activities of the ninth day of the Nasser Fellowship for International Leadership  in its third edition, Dr. Abbas Sharaki, Professor of Geology and Water Resources at Cairo University, reviewed Egypt’s experience in facing drought and water scarcity. He  pointed out that there are  some facts and water challenges facing the Egyptian state, which  Most of them share the challenges faced by African countries, stressing that African countries are not lucky in the amount of water; In Egypt we find that more than 80% of our water resources evaporate, as Egypt occupies the first country in the world in the scarcity of rain. In his speech, Sharaki addressed water sources in Egypt, which God blessed with the Nile River, on which Egypt lives and mainly depend on. However, these are stable waters that do not increase, which causes suffering to the government in light of the challenges it faces in the framework of providing the Egyptians’ water needs. Moreover, he reviewed the reasons for the emergence of the High Dam to make use of the limited amount of water that comes to Egypt, the majority of which 
 goes to the Mediterranean Sea. In addition to this, he addressed Egypt's means of dealing with its limited share of water, as its population is  increasing, and the country's current new projects. He clarified the most prominent ways of misuse of water, types of water pollution, climatic changes and its impact on Egypt, which he  considerd  to have the least impact comparing to most countries in the world. He pointed out that Egypt is the only country in which all its water comes from outside the borders,  and that there are universal principles for international rivers. 

At the beginning of her speech, Dr. Jihan Abdel Salam, economics teacher at the Faculty of Higher African Studies at Cairo University, expressed her happiness to participate in the Nasser Fellowship for International Leadership in its third edition. She noted that water security as a concept means the individual's ability to obtain the minimum amount of water suitable for his/her uses, which is related to national security and its economic dimensions regarding the security of natural resources.  Abdel Salam added that water security is not just an individual’s needs, but it is related to national security, describing the Renaissance Dam as a national security issue for Egypt, as the country mainly depends on the Nile water  as one of its main and  most important    sources of water.  She stressed that without development and without people, countries will not survive, and that  water security is the survival, development, stability, and continuity of the state. she also touched on the mechanisms that Egypt carried out in the crisis of the Renaissance Dam, and Egypt's role in the development of African countries, as well as, the projects it has undertaken in  This regard.  in addition to this,  she addressed the challenges facing Egypt’s water security, including the population increase and its impact on the the decrease in the per capita share of water, as well as the impact of climatic changes on the amount of water in Egypt and the whole world.

In her speech, Amira Sayed, a journalist in the Egyptian Gazette and the representative of Egypt in the International Water Parliament for Youth, thanked the Ministry of Youth and Sports for the invitation to attend this important session, praising the diversity and richness of the grant topics. She defined the Global Youth Parliament as a youth entity that includes specialists and non-specialists in the water file, which provides  a link between specialists and non-specialists and between decision-makers and public opinion. The  Parliament holds a plenary session every three years and contains more than one committee and more than one local parliament at the level of all countries.  Preparations are underway to launch the African Parliament; the Parliament is strongly present  in the preparations for the coming Climate Summit. Sayed touched on the importance of youth diplomacy and the role of youth in water diplomacy, as  the continuous pressures on the available water resources led to a demand for strengthening water diplomacy.  Youth represent an integral part of the role of water diplomacy in light of the necessity of youth participation in decision-making. The issue of water is an integral part of national security, and therefore they must be present in decision-making.

For their part, the participants in the Nasser Fellowship for International Leadership in its third edition, during the dialogue session held within the activities of the ninth day of the grant on the subject of water resources and sustainable development, raised a number of questions and discussions on this important issue that concerns everyone in different countries and continents of the world, stressing the importance of water security as a national security of countries and peoples. 

On his part, Hassan Ghazali, General Coordinator of the Nasser Fellowship for International Leadership, touched on the importance of the topic of this dialogue session on water security, which is a national security that must be preserved.  He stressed that this file should be managed carefully and wisely because of its great importance to the future of peoples and countries.  Moreover, he indicated that Nasser Fellowship for   International Leadership aims to transfer the ancient Egyptian experience in building national institutions, in addition to working on creating a generation of young leaders from non-aligned countries with a vision in line with the South-South partnership, and raising awareness of the role of the Non-Aligned Movement.