World Water Day 2022 Conference

Tuesday 22 March 2022     |     Starts at 09:00 (EET)

Novel Technologies Laboratory (NTL), The Cyprus Institute, Nicosia

The event is available to attend in person and online

Live streaming of the event will be available on The Cyprus Institute's YouTube channel, Facebook event page.
The event can also be viewed - and questions should be posed - on our GoToWebinar stream

À l'occasion de la journée mondiale de l'eau 2022, le 22 mars, et dans le cadre du processus méditerranéen du 9ème Forum Mondial de l'Eau qui se tiendra à Dakar du 21 au 26 mars 2022, le Cyprus institute, qui coordonne également le volet scientifique de l'Initiative sur le changement climatique en Méditerranée orientale et au Moyen-Orient (Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East Climate Change Initiative - EMME-CCI) de la République de Chypre, organise une table ronde régionale intitulée :

"Adaptation pour l'Hydrodiplomatie et la Sécurité de l'Eau dans la Région EMME".

Cet évènement aura lieu le 22 mars sur le campus Athalassa du Cyprus Institute à Nicosie.

Le Cyprus Institute, et en particulier son Centre de Recherche sur l'Energie, l'Environnement et l'Eau (EEWRC), mobilise d'éminents Diplomates et des Leaders dans le secteur hydrique qui sont tous concernés par les questions du Climat, de l'Eau et de l'Hydrodiplomatie.

Les participants chercheront à identifier l'adaptation climatique et les innovations dans la gestion des ressources en eau transfrontalières et à proposer un environnement politique favorable pour l'ensemble de la région.

Cet événement, qui examinera également la situation hydro-géopolitique actuelle dans la région EMME, sera aussi lié aux travaux du groupe de travail sur l'eau EMME-CCI, qui a présenté son rapport lors de la 2ème Conférence internationale sur le changement climatique en Méditerranée Orientale et au Moyen-Orient, tenue à Paphos du 13 au 14 octobre 2021.

Veuillez noter que le programme de cet évènement figure en pièce jointe.

Programme

Keynote Speakers and Panelists

Welcome Statements

Costas N Papanicolas - President of The Cyprus Institute

Prof. Costas N. Papanicolas is the President of the Cyprus Institute and the CEO of the Cyprus Research and Educational Foundation, Professor Emeritus at the University of Athens Greece and Adjunct Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, USA.   He is advisor to the President of the Republic of Cyprus on climate change and Presidential Special Envoy for Climate Change.

Opening Statements

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cyprus, H.E. Ambassador, Mr. Kornelios S. Korneliou

He served at the Embassy of Cyprus in Germany, as Director of the Office of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as Deputy Permanent Representative to the European Union in Brussels, as Ambassador to Austria with parallel accredidation to Croatia, Liechtenstein, Slovakia, Slovenia, OSCE, IAEA, UNIDO, CTBT and UN Office in Vienna, as Director of the Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, as Ambassador to France with parallel accredidation to Andorra, Monaco and UNESCO and as Permanent Representative to the European Union in Brussels, whereas he served as President of the Committee of the Permanent Representatives (COREPER) during the first Presidency of Cyprus of the Council of the European Union (July to December 2012). He also served as Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York and as Secretary General of European Αffairs.

H.E. Ms Salina Grenet-Catalano - Ambassador of France in Cyprus

Diploma from the Institute of Political Studies
Certificate of Literal Arabic Language and Civilization
Senior Foreign Affairs Advisor

Positions held:

 - in central administration (continental Europe) 1997-2000;
 - technical adviser (Cabinet of the Minister Delegate for Cooperation and Francophonie), January 2000;
 - at headquarters (Americas and the Caribbean), 2001-2002;
 - first secretary in Damascus, 2002-2005;
 - at the central administration (United Nations and international organizations), 2005-2008;
 - first secretary in Zagreb, 2008-2011;
 - political adviser in Rome (Quirinal), 2011-2014;
 - at the central administration, head of mission, then deputy to the deputy director (Cultural, academic and research cooperation), 2015-2016;
 - Head of Mission (Crisis Centre), 2016-2018;
 - number two in Beirut, since August 2018.

General Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Dr Andreas Gregoriou

In September 2020, Andreas A. Gregoriou was appointed Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment.In December 2019, he was appointed by the Council of Ministers at the post of Acting Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice and Public Order.Prior to his appointment as Permanent Secretary, from February 2008, he served as Director of the Department of Postal Services. In November 2002, he was appointed Senior Officer, responsible for financial and legal issues at the newly created Office of the Commissioner of Electronic Communications and Postal Regulations (OCECPR), where he served until 2008.

During that time, he was also responsible for the regulation of the Postal Services Sector in Cyprus with the transposition of EU-directives into national law.

Panel 1 - Water Security and Hydro-Diplomacy in the EMME Region

Prof. Fadi G. Comair - Director of EEWRC, The Cyprus Institute

Keynote Speaker

Fadi Georges Comair is a professor of applied hydrology, Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM), and infrastructure and is currently the Director of EEWRC (Energy, Environment, Water and Research Centre) of the Cyprus Institute.
Prof. Comair is a water diplomat (DWRE) from the American Academy of Water Resource Engineers (AAWRE) and an international negotiator specialized in Transboundary water in the MENA region. In addition, he initiated the concept of Hydrodiplomcy based on his negotiation experience related to the Jordan River Basin, the Orontus, The Nile, and the Tigres and Euphrates.

Prof Michael Scoullos – Professor of Environental Chemistry, University of Athens

Michael J. Scoullos, Environmental Chemist (MSc, DSc University of Athens) and Oceanographer (PhD University of Liverpool). Professor of Environmental Chemistry at the University of Athens, Director of the Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry. He has also worked for years on issues of Environmental Policies, Environmental Diplomacy and Environmental Education/Education for Sustainable Development.
He represents, as an expert, the European Parliament on the Management Board and the Executive Bureau of the European Environmental Agency (EEA).

H.E. Dr Hassan Janabi – Former Water Minister in Iraq

Former Minister of Water Resources in the Republic of Iraq, Ministry of Water Resources. His previous positions in Iraq included Advisor to the Ministry of Water Resources.

Senior Advisor to the Water & Public Works Sector in Baghdad overseeing the donors countries funded water and public works project after 2003.
Prior to that he worked as Experienced Hydrologist and Water Quality Modeler for Sydney Catchment Authority in Australia.  He has extensive knowledge in the management, planning and development of major projects in the area of natural resources, environment and public works.
He possesses in depth understanding of natural processes, river basin hydrology, trans-boundary river management, ecosystems, watershed management, hydraulic modeling and GIS applications.

Mrs Cleopatra Kitti - Advisor to international corporations and governments

Founder of the Mediterranean Growth Initiative (MGI.online), the only real time data analysis and networking platform for the economies of the Mediterranean, and has co-founded the The Mediterranean Program at ELIAMEP, Greece's pre-eminent European Think Tank. As their Senior Policy Advisor, she delivers geo-economic analysis, promoting a positive agenda from a lens of connectivity.

H.E. Dr Raed Abu-Soud – Former Minister of Water and Irrigation of Jordan

Jordanian engineer and politician. He has held several key positions in a number of Jordanian Government Cabinets, with his first appointment being that of Jordanian Minister of Transportation between 2000 and 2003.
He also served as Jordanian Minister of Public Works and Housing in two cabinets between 2003 and 2005, and held the position of Jordanian Minister of Water and Irrigation in 2005, and once again between November 2007 and December 2009 and again from October 2018 to October 2021.

Panel 2 - Climate Change Adaptation for Water Security in the EMME Region

Ms. Panayiota Hadjigeorgiou - Director, Water Development Department, Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Cyprus

Keynote Speaker

Mrs Panayiota Hadjigeorgiou holds an Msc in Rural & Surveying Engineering, an Msc in Civil Engineering and an M.B.A. in business administration. The last thirty years has been working for the Water Development Department of the Ministry of Agriculture Rural Development and Environment of Cyprus and currently she serves as Director. She has extensive experience in strategic planning of water resources, management of water projects, projects appraisal and drought mitigation.

She was the head for the preparation of plans and programmes for the implementation of the water framework directive in Cyprus, she initiated the strategic planning of the Department, and she coordinated the preparation of the drought management plan and the water policy review under scarcity.

Adriana Bruggeman  - Associate Professor, The Cyprus Institute

Associate Professor, Hydrology & Water Management Her main research interests are the monitoring and modeling of hydrologic and environmental processes.
She also enjoys working on the development and evaluation of technologies and policies for natural resource management and climate change adaptation with interdisciplinary research and stakeholder teams.

Maria Mimikou - Professor Emeritus in the School of Civil Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens.

Maria Mimikou has established the Center of Hydrology and Informatics.
She was Director of the Laboratory of Hydrology and Water Resources Management (2003-2016), Dean of the School of Civil Engineering (2006-2009), Head of the Department of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering (1993-1996, 2001-2003) and Director of the Interdepartmental Program of Postgraduate Studies «Water Resources Science and Technology» of the School of Civil Engineering (2010-2014).
She has a vast experience in the area of hydrology, water resources management and river basin management.

H.E. Dr. Muhammad Abdul Razzak - Global Institute for Water, Environment and Health

Abdul Razzak holds a PhD in Civil Engineering, with specialization in Hydrology and Water Resources Management, from Colorado State University in the United States. He has more than 35 years of experience in the academic, technical and managerial fields. Upon joining ESCWA in 1995, he worked as Chief of the Natural Resources Section.

He later worked at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as Director of the Regional Office for Science in Arab States before returning to ESCWA in April 2007.

Carol Chouchani Cherfane - Cluster Leader, Climate Change and Natural Resource Sustainability cluster, ESCWA

Carol Chouchani Cherfane leads the Climate Change and Natural Resource Sustainability Cluster in Beirut and directs the Arab Centre for Climate Change Policies. s. Chouchani Cherfane previously served as Chief of the Water Resources Section for 12 years and led the Technology and Enterprise Development Team and the Private Sector and Enterprise Development Section at ESCWA. She also served as an Economic Affairs Officer in the Trade, Investment and Enterprise Development Section, with focus on the relationship between trade and environment. Prior to joining the United Nations, she worked for the Harvard Institute for International Development and the World Bank on regional environmental initiatives in the Mediterranean.

Panel 3 - Water Innovations and Initiatives for the EMME Region

Prof. Isam Chahrour - Professor, Polytech’Lille

Keynote Speaker

Water Harvesting, Smart Cities, WEFE Nexus, Hydro diplomacy Partnership Program, ECOMED-IHP UNESCO

Distinguished professor at University Lille - Sciences and Technology (France).
Education, science, technology and social networking for a smart world.
Author of about 100 refereed journal papers and 200 communications.

H.E. Dr Charafat Afilal – Former Minister Delegate to the Minister of Energy, Mines, Water and the Environment

She was Minister Delegate to the Minister of Energy, Mines, Water and the Environment, in charge of water in the Benkiran II government , then Secretary of State in charge of the same portfolio in the El Othmani government.

Dr. Gonzalo Espinoza - Senior Product Engineer at Esri

Water Resources Engineer specialized on integrating global and remote sensing data sets for the improvement of water management practices

Dr Nicolas Jarraud – Assistant Vice President for Institute Affairs, The Cyprus Institute

Dr. Nicolas Jarraud is Assistant Vice President for International Relations. As such, he is responsible for External Relations, Institute Policy and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Dr. Jarraud has almost 15 years of project and programme management experience (including over 10 years at the United Nations) as well as a career in environmental research and the social sciences.He has a PhD in environmental science from Imperial College, London, as well as a Masters in Science Communication and a BSc in Biology from the same university. Nicolas has also had experience as a freelance journalist.

Prof. Ilan Juran – Professor - NYU, W-Smart, ECOMED

Prof. Juran’s expertise covers areas related to urban infrastructure engineering and innovative technologies for upgrading infrastructure performance, lifecycle management and resiliency. He is presently the Secretary of the Specialists Group on Water Safety & Security Management of IWA and served as the Associate Editor of the International Journal on Water Technology & Science published by IWA. Former Head of the Civil & Environmental Engineering Department at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University, Dr. Juran’s responsibilities included development of educational programs and research initiatives relevant to the urban infrastructure priority needs.
Research Interests:

- Preemptive infrastructure asset management;
- Infrastructure rehabilitation technologies;
- Urban resiliency and post-disaster recovery;
- Water safety and security;
- Smart energy and water network monitoring, control and management systems
- Coastal eco system preservation with UNESCO IHP

Rana A. Oaimari

Rana is the Program Manager at EcoPeace Middle East, Palestine Office. She holds an MA from Birzeit University in Water Science and Technology and has fifteen years of professional experience in education with direct relevance to water and environmental education.  She worked as environmental coordinator for youth environmental awareness programs with different organizations - Latin Patriarchate Schools in Palestine and Jordan, Palestinian Academy for science & Technology and Royal Society for Protection of Nature. She also has 3 years' experience working as a program officer, at the EU Erasmus+ Office in Palestine.

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