International Colloquium: Water Resources in the arid and semi-arid regions: challenges and prospects. Case of the African Continent

The GEOAFRICASCIENCES SOCIETY
The UNIVERSITY of SULTAN MOULAY SLIMANE
and
The FACULTY of SCIENCES and TECHNIQUES of BENI MELLAL (MOROCCO)
Organise

The 1st international colloquium
REZAS’12 on
Water resources in the arid and semiarid
regions: challenges and prospects.
Case of the African continent

Béni Mellal 14, 15 & 16 November 2012

PRESENTATION

Find the full circular attached. French versions available on request.

The regular water supply constitutes one of the big challenges of the humanity of this
millennium. In Africa, the scarcity of this resource is not an exceptional concept. It rises
from the characteristics of the geographical and climatic context of the continent.
In the next decades, the uncertainty of the climatic fluctuations, the population growth,
the increase in the socio‐economic needs and the position risks will exacerbate the
problems of availability of this resource quantity and quality. This will accentuate the
tension between supply and demand and lets predict extreme situations in a close
horizon. Such situations will reproduce in the future and perhaps even more frequently
if one attaches them to the phenomenon of desertification which affects the African West
and to the extent of the climate changes to the planetary scale.
The integrated management of fresh water as a limited and vulnerable resource is a
prerequisite essential with sustainable development and in the future of the African
continent. The integration of programs and sectoral plans on water within the
framework of the economic and social policy is of paramount importance for the action
at the 21st century. An effective management supposes to integrate knowledge and to
cross complementary approaches (hydrological, hydrogeologic, geographical, historical,
socio‐economic, ecological and political), in order to try to reconcile from the contrasted
points of view and to propose adapted answers.
This scientific demonstration is the occasion to exchange, communicate and discover
thanks to professionals, actors, researchers, and users, the challenges and the prospects
for an effective and rational management of the water resources at the level of the
African continent. It will also make it possible to the participants to put the point on the
last developments in the field of management and the safeguarding of the water
resources by conferences and communications of great interest. To fill these objectives,
the conference will comprise many debates, oral presentations and panels on the key
challenges of water.

PARTICIPATION FEES

The registration fees are fixed as follows :
‐ Student‐researchers : 50 €
‐ Teacher‐researchers : 100 €
‐ Industrialists : 250 €
The registration fees give the right to the following services:
‐ Acts and the various documents concerning the seminar
‐ Meals (lunch + dinner)
‐ Coffee breaks
The expenses of participation to the field trip are fixed at : 15O €

CORRESPONDENCE

Pr Abdessamad NAJINE, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques,
BP 523, Béni Mellal 23000, Morocco rezasafrica [at] gmail [dot] com
Tel : 00212 523485112/22 Fax : 00212 523485201 GSM :00212 651057178
Web Site : http://www.fstbm.ac.ma/

Supported by the Geological Society of South Africa (GSSA)