The 13th governing board meeting of the UNESCO Regional Center on Urban Water Management for West and Central Asia will be held on Feb. 23 in Tehran, deputy director of RCUWM-Tehran said.
“The meeting will be chaired by Iran's Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian and attended by water and energy ministers as well as high-ranking officials of 18 other countries and a number of international organizations,” Alireza Salamat was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
The meeting was held via videoconference in 2021 and 2022 due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, but participants will hold their talks face-to-face on Thursday, he added.
RCUWM was established in 2002 in Tehran, following an agreement between Iran and UNESCO.
The regional center contributes to water-related projects of UNESCO’s strategic program by capacity building, knowledge sharing and research at regional and international levels.
At the 13th meeting, the center’s activities in the last year are expected to be reviewed and the participants will discuss proposals for mutual cooperation until 2024.
The official expressed hope that closer ties would be established between the countries of the region in the field of water and wastewater, and the latest knowhow in the field would be transferred from developed countries to the region.
The center will help pool and share knowhow from regional countries about unconventional water resources.
Unconventional water is different from groundwater and water in dams. These are generated as a byproduct of specialized processes such as desalination and need suitable pre-use treatment for farming.
Monitoring of Drought
Salamat said several other projects related to the monitoring of drought in the region and the issue of climate change will be approved, and each of them will be hopefully carried out as soon as possible so that the center can play a major role in improving water and wastewater sectors, in urban and rural areas, in the coming years.
RCUWM’s governing board consists of the member states of Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Germany, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Syria, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan.
Senior representatives from international bodies such as UNESCO, World Meteorological Organization, Islamic Development Bank, Economic Cooperation Organization, World Health Organization and International Water Resources Association, as well as the UN resident coordinator in Iran, also attended the virtual meeting.
RCUWM’s main activities include holding training courses and capacity building programs on various topics, such as water scarcity adaptation and demand management, supporting joint research and technology transfer projects, plus partnership and networking at regional and international levels.
The agreement between Iran and UNESCO regarding RCUWM has been extended till the end of 2023.
Since its establishment, RCUWM has signed MoUs with more than 10 international organizations, supported 12 joint research projects in the region and held 50 educational events for more than 20,000 people.
