Egypt’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Abdel Atty held on Wednesday two video conference meetings with Henk Ofenk, the Dutch High-Level Envoy for Water Affairs; and Asit Biswas, the Director of the International Institute of Water Management.
The meetings aimed to review ways to coordinate international efforts in support of water issues and confront the negative impacts of climate change in the water sector.
Abdel Atty highlighted the importance of water as a main element of life and stressed that the phenomenon of climate change is one of the most important issues facing the world currently, given the clear and increasing effects of climate change on water resources and food production.
He also pointed to the unexpected impact of climate change on the amount of rain in upstream rivers, the occurrence of many extreme weather phenomena across the globe, and that 70% of natural disasters in the world are related to water such as floods, droughts, and others.
The minister stressed that these dangers require urgent action, as adapting to these effects will be more difficult and costly in the future if drastic measures are not taken at the present time, which necessitates increased cooperation and the exchange of experiences between different countries in the field of water management.
