I very much regret not being able to join you today, but as Chair of the Advisory Board of the Center for the Global South at American University, I would like to welcome you and to thank Dr Clovis Maksoud and his colleagues for their vision and effort in organizing this event. The multi-sectoral, truly global nature of this conference again highlights the valuable role of the Center for the Global South as a meeting place for people and ideas from the whole world.
Time only makes the threat more complex, and the required actions and solutions more urgent.
Water problems increasingly lead to serious consequences at several levels. This meeting, therefore, appropriately includes speakers from numerous geographical and sectoral perspectives. Their presentations at this meeting will include facts and figures that will paint a worrying picture of one of the world's most valuable resources. Shortages are compounded by problems of pollution, mismanagement, waste, and outright political or civil theft. Perhaps as much as the rightful restitution of lands occupied by war, the issue of equitable water sharing rights is at the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and threatens to spill over to other states in the region.