NDC hosts UAE’s Minister of Food and Water Security

Thursday 20 May 2021

The National Defence College hosted H.E. Mariam bint Mohammed Saeed Hareb Al Muhairi, UAE’s Minister of Food and Water Security to deliver a lecture on "Food and Water Security and its Impact on the UAE National Security and Strategy " on Thursday May 20th, 2021. Her Excellency was received by the NDC Commandant Maj. Gen. Staff Aqab Shaheen Alali, the Deputy Commandant, and wing commanders.

Attended by participants of the 8th NDC Course 2020 – 2021, the lecture aimed to explore the UAE’s food and water security policy, the main challenges facing this vital sector, and the opportunities for the next fifty years, which will support and develop it in accordance with the UAE national strategy.

H.E. started the lecture by discussing the history of food and water security in general, as well as the various elements of the non-conventional security concerns that food and water insecurity can pose on countries in the context of local, regional, or global security.

H.E. Maryam Al Muhairi also explained the critical trade-offs between the food, water, and energy sectors, as well as the priorities assigned to these sectors, through the Ministry's programs that will affect these resources and the ways in which they are optimized, preserved, and sustained.

H.E. concluded the lecture by exploring the major challenges facing the future of food and water security in the UAE, namely population growth, climate change, groundwater depletion, and other issues for which the UAE seeks to develop appropriate future solutions through a national strategy that will mobilize all research, sustainability, action, and development.