Professor. Abdin Salih is currently serving as the Director of the Arab Water Academy of the Arab Water Council. He is also a Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Khartoum and was a Member of the Governing Council of the same University from 2011 till January 2017. He was the previous President of the Governing Board of Merowe University until June 2021 and previous member of the Governing Board of UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education based in Delft/the Netherlands from 2011 to December 2016. His education included a first class honor degree in Civil Engineering from Khartoum University and DIC and Ph.D from Imperial College in London in 1972. He held various academic positions at many universities in Africa, Middle East, Europe and USA with full professorship since 1982 and served as the Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Khartoum in 1991/2. He worked for UNESCO from 1993 to 2008 as regional hydrologist in Cairo Regional Office, deputy secretary of the International Hydrological Program of UNESCO (IHP) in Paris and Director of UNESCO regional offices in Cairo and Tehran. UNESCO called him again in September 2011 from retirement, as the secretary of the UNESCO/IHP and the Director of the Water Sciences Division for one year, and again from May 2014 to January 2015 as a regional Director of UNESCO Cairo Office and a Representative. Prior to that he was elected in 2008 as the President of the Intergovernmental Council of the IHP of UNESCO for two years. He was elected in 2015 member of the executive board of UNESCO till 2019. He published close to 100 scientific contributions in refereed journals and specialized conferences. His research interest includes areas related to water resources management in arid zones including surface and groundwater. He is a member/fellow of many scientific organizations such as IAHR, IWRA, IAHS, IAH, ICID, and is currently a member of the Governors of the Arab Water Council and Director of the Arab Water Academy. He is a Fellow of TWAS and the African Academy of Sciences and awarded ISESCO AWARD for excellence in Sciences.

He served as a consultant for many regional and international organizations including: UNESCO, WMO, FAO, WB, UN-ESCWA, AOAD, ACSAD, ALECSO, ISESCO. He provided consulting services to many countries in the region and abroad. Most important of these is leading various international teams for finding solution for the rising groundwater beneath the city of Riyadh the capital of Saudi Arabia. He is one of the founders of many regional and global networks including: The African Division of the IAHR; the Wadi Hydrology and Groundwater Networks in the Arab region; The MAB network of the Arab region; the IHP global G-WADI network; the World Water ASSESSMENT Program (WWAP); the UNESCO-IHE as a category 1 Institute, and the regional G-WADI networks in Asia, Africa and the Arab regions.

Session Title: Innovations in Natural Resources Management for Sustainable Future

Presentation title: STI for Sustainable Development Challenges for Water Resources Management in the Arab Region

ABSTRACT

Sustainable Water Resources Development is key for the achievement of all of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. This is more relevant in the case of the Arab Region where water scarcity is severe and is considered by far the worst compared with all the regions of the world.  For the region to accelerate its slow progress towards achieving a significant part of the SDGs boy 2030, a strong collaborative regional program is needed in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI). In this presentation, the severe water scarcity in the Arab Region will be outlined, together with its links to all of the 17 sustainable development goals. The role of STI in accelerating the slow progress in achieving these goals will be discussed.