Professor Tony Allan discusses water and food security in the MENA region
Leading international water expert Tony Allan spoke about “Food-Water Security in the Middle East” as a Visiting Scholar of the University Research Board to the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences (FAFS).
Addressing a crowd of more than 60 students, faculty, staff, experts in related fields and external guests, Professor Allan shed light on water and food security challenges in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and analyzed the current and future status and role of water in the region.
Professor Allan offered insight on means for the management of food-water (the water used to produce food) so that the MENA region can transition into a water secure future. According to him, governments are under political pressure to provide affordable food or risk upheaval, hence they do not properly value the water that goes into food production. Affordable food is in fact underpriced food that fails to account for the true environmental costs and leads to over-exploitation of water resources.
Read the full article by Safa Jafari Safa | via The American University of Beirut.
[video interview] Professor Tony Allan during an interview with Dr. Martin Keulertz and Ms. Rachel Bahn of the Food Security Program at the American University of Beirut – recorded November 23, 2016.
