Dr. Murakami is a professor in the Infrastructure Systems Engineering Department at the Kochi University of Technology in Japan, where he is involved in research, teaching, and collaboration with the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). He has been active in international cooperation in the Middle East and Africa, water resources management projects, non-conventional water resources development, and applied aquatic eco-system management.

Ervin Laszlo is a pioneer of systems thinking and general theory of evolution. During the course of his distinguished academic career, Prof. Dr. Laszlo has studied at the Sorbonne, taught at Princeton and Yale, and headed an advisory committee at the United Nations University. In 1993, Prof. Dr. Laszlo founded the Club of Budapest, which aims to “build bridges between generations and cultures” and to promote humanitarian values and global consciousness. A famed bridge builder himself, Prof. Dr. Laszlo is one of the most influential thinkers of modern times.

Professor Tony Allan heads the Water Research Group at King's College, London. In his early career he was concerned with hydrological and environmental issues but gradually turned his attention to the social and political when it became evident that environmental science could not explain why people manage water as they do. He provides advice to governments and agencies, especially in the Middle East, on water policy and water policy reform. His most recent book is entitled The Middle East Water Question: Hydropolitics and the Global Economy (2001).

Dr. David D. Brooks is a well-known natural resource economist. The founding director of the Canadian Office of Energy Conservation, he currently works as a research director for the Friends of the Earth Canada. He has worked in Canada and the United States, as well as several developing countries. Much of his research focuses on “soft” alternatives to conventional energy and water policies. Dr. Brooks is author of Zero Energy Growth for Canada, Water: The Potential for Demand Management in Canada and Watershed: The Role of Fresh Water in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.

Dr. Munther J. Haddadin is a Courtesy Professor at Oregon State University, an Affiliate Professor at the University of Oklahoma in the United States and a water resources consultant based in Amman, Jordan. He was a senior member of Jordanian delegations taking part in the Middle East peace process and the Jordan-Israel Peace Treaty. He served as President and Chairman of the Board of the Jordan Valley Authority, and as Minister of Water and Irrigation in the Government of the Hashemite Kingdom.