Regional water awareness project launched in Abu Dhabi

The project will be launched over two days, December 12-13, 2006 at Le Royal Meridien in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

The launch was attended by H.E Majid Al Mansouri, Secretary General of EAD and H.E Dr. Awad Ali Saleh, Secretary General of the UAE National UNESCO Commission, as well as a number of water experts from UNESCO's offices in Paris and Amman. During the launch, all material prepared by EAD targeting the students, was reviewed and approved. The mechanisms and future steps of how the project will be implemented were also discussed.

With water scarcity being an important issue across the globe, and especially in the Arab Region, this project will help bring a much needed awareness to the younger generation in the following countries: UAE, Qatar, Sultanate of Oman, Kuwait, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon and Tunisia. Water and awareness experts from some of these countries also attended the launch.

The holistic project, which targets primary, intermediary and secondary levels, is the first initiative of its kind in the Arab world and is expected to begin in September 2007. The idea for this project came from a recommendation made back in 2003, during an UNESCO ASPnet schools meeting here in Abu Dhabi.

"The project's aim is get Arab youth more interested and more active when it comes to water issues in their part of the world. By providing them with the right tools, training and awareness, the project will help generate a new generation of pro-active and knowledgeable youth working towards conserving the precious resource of water," said H.E Majid Al Mansouri, Secretary General of EAD.

The project will also bring students of different Arab countries together by providing them with youth exchange programmes and an online forum where they can share results of their activities. Once students have gained awareness, they are more likely to incorporate water conservation into their lifestyle and then develop positive changes in water conservation behavior. This awareness project is part of UNESCO's World Heritage Project and works toward achieving the UN's Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) and Education for Sustainable Development.