This multidisciplinary 2-day workshop will bring together participants to collaborate on the development of a Centre for Water Research and Modeling (CWARM) for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). In general, the workshop attendees will outline research goals, identify funding opportunities, and develop research project proposals through discussions of mutual interests for collaboration across disciplines regarding regional climate predictions, water and food security issues, livelihood issues, and policy concerns. Social science team members from the University of Maryland have been asked specifically to lead discussions at the workshop on water and society within the MENA region, as well as climate information needed by communities across the region to ensure water security now and in the future. Participants have been invited from universities, governmental institutes, and non-governmental organizations in the US, Israel, Palestine, and other countries across the Middle East and North Africa.

Workshop participants will address four multidisciplinary themes from a water security perspective including: (1) Health and climate; (2) Livelihoods, sustainability and climate; (3) Urban climate issues; and (4) Climate and water governance issues at different scales.    

Date and location

The workshop will be held for two days at the University of Maryland College Park, Feb 13-14, 2017.

Organizers

Raghu Murtugudde

Nejm Benessaiah

L Jen Shaffer

Yosef Ashkenazy

Hezi Gildor

For more information, please contact:

Raghu Murtugudde (ragu@essic.umd.edu) or Nejm Benessaiah (nlbeness@umd.edu)