Meeting of the High level Joint Committee of Agriculture and Water in the Arab Region

Convener (s): League of Arab States (LAS), Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI), Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO), Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA), Arab Organization for Agriculture
Development (AOAD).

The meeting was held on 23rd – 24th of October 2019 on the sidelines of the Cairo Water Week 2019. 

The League of Arab States and the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development (AOAD), in collaboration with FAO and ESCWA organized the first meeting of the High Level Joint Committee for Water and Agriculture in the Arab Region in response to the resolution of the First Arab Joint Ministerial Council of Water and Agriculture, which adopted the Cairo Declaration and was held along the Land and Water Days Regional Conference on 4 April 2019.

The high level joint committee is the technical arm of the joint Ministerial Council of Water and Agriculture that elaborates regional policies and programs to ensure proper coordination and coherence between water and agriculture policies. 

Aside from establishing the policy action framework and programming priorities for the water-agriculture nexus in
the Arab region, the high level joint committee will develop an action plan for the five years to come. The thematic
focus of the first meeting will be “Mechanisms for sustainable water resources allocation for the agricultural sector in
the Arab region”.

The debate was inspired by sharing experiences and a regional policy paper on sustainable and innovative mechanisms of water allocation. The ultimate objective is to achieve food security and water resources sustainability through coordination, coherence and integration between sectorial water and agriculture policies in the Arab region.

Video interviews

Outcome of the Meeting of the High-level Joint Committee of Agriculture and Water in the Arab Region

Video interview with Dr. Theib Oweis, Senior Researcher, Office of the Program Director (DWLEO). He answers following questions:

• What was your presentation on water allocation about?
• What were the debates about?
• Which countries have the most advanced water allocation policies?
• Is a policy of self-sufficiency realistic?
• The African free trade area can be a unique opportunity to discuss the comparative advantages?
• What is the next step of the High Level Joint Committee meeting for Water and Agriculture in the Arab Region?

The dilemma of drip irrigation and the merits of raised bed technology

Interview with Dr. Theib Oweis. He answers following questions:

• How important is drip irrigation for the DryArc regions?
• Irrigation schemes using solar energy can also cause a depletion of scare water resources?

Relevance of the  water allocation policy for the DryArc initiative.

Interview with Dr. Theib Oweis. He answers following questions:

• Can water attribution policy documents guide research prioritisation?
• Can water allocation policy documents be useful for the DryArc initiative?
• What are probable forecast scenarios for the use of water in agriculture?