Water Demand Management Conference

Under the patronage of His Majesty King Abdullah ll, from May 30 through June 3, the Academy for Developmentïs (AED) WEPIA project, on behalf of the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, and funded by USAID, held the International Water Demand Conference at the Dead Sea, Jordan. The conference was attended by 742 participants representing 38 countries, with high level official delegations from 12 countries in the region. Four of the delegations were led by Ministers of State, the rest by Secretarys General. The opening ceremony was attended by His Majesty himself, the Prime Minister as well as the Cabinet, Members of Parliament and Senate, and members of the Diplomatic Corps.

The conference consisted of three technical tracks in Water Re-Use, Water Demand and Strategic Planning during which over 109 papers were presented. In addition five professional development workshops were held, presented by leading experts from the US and Europe as well as experts from the region. Special workshops were sponsored by the World Bank (leading a regional delegation), and by IDRC (also leading a regional delegation). Business lunches provided additional information on such topics as de-salination, and state of the art technologies for re-used water system glavbukh. Finally a 35 booth parallel exhibition by private sector companies representing Saudi Arabia, pc Lebanon, Jordan, the united States, Germany, and other countries showcased technologies, software, and products for the water sector.

Perhaps the most important outcome of the conference was a Declaration, drafted and approved by the delegations, that stressed the importance of Demand Management for the region and the world, in a set of ten principles. These principles are being sent to national agencies and donors in the hope that they will become starting points for implementation of demand management in the region. This is the first time the Arab world has drafted such a Declaration and the historic nature of the conference was recognized in the mass of publicity it generated and the level of official delegations attending punked gaming. The Minister of Water and irrigation in Jordan has determined to make this conference a biannual affair and intends to hold the second such conference in Amman 2006/2007.