Min.
Al-Jabri shows Kuwait’s efforts to tackle water scarcity.
Speaking at the 40th Session FAO Conference on tackling the water scarcity and improving food security amid climate change, Mohammad Al-Jabri, Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs and Minister of State for Municipal Affairs, said Kuwait has been suffering from a sharp shortage of water resources.
The State of Kuwait has only a resource of water, limited to groundwater, while most of the country’s water needs are met by desalination, he added.
As a result, the country had to depend on wastewater treatment as an additional source for agricultural purposes, and to reduce pressures on indispensable groundwater, he told the conference.
Kuwait is taking part in the conference to share expertise and views, and supporting the initiative launched by FAO in 2013 in collaboration with the Arab League in the Near East and North Africa region, he stressed.
Meanwhile, Arab League Secretary General Ahmad Abul Gheit said the future of the Arab region in tightly linked to the problem of water scarcity, referring to a major gap between supply and demand in water and food in the Arab region.
For his part, FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva said the Arab countries should continue to seek innovations to overcome the water scarcity crisis in the face of climate change.
"Population growth and the impacts of climate change will put more pressure on water availability in the near future.
He pointed out that farmers and rural households should be at the center of strategies to tackle water scarcity.