Alain Meyssonnier: “We can no longer ignore water, which is indispensable to us”

AFRIK 21: The 5^th Mediterranean Water Forum opens in Tunis on February 5, 2024. What’s special about this year’s event, apart from its theme of shared water sobriety?

Alain Meyssonnier: We’re in an unprecedented situation. Just a few days ago, on February 2, 2024 to be precise, a crisis situation was declared in Catalonia (an autonomous community in north-eastern Spain). The situation is similar in Morocco, Tunisia, southern Portugal, southern Italy, south-west France and elsewhere. It manifests itself in heavy rainfall, which causes enormous damage, as was the case in Libya in September 2023, in Greece and in southern Italy, and in chronic drought. This other natural phenomenon, also accentuated by climate change, has been going on for over three years now in Spain, and 10 years in Tunisia and Morocco, putting everyone on alert.

There’s a positive side to all this. It’s the fact that today the world realizes that we can no longer ignore water, which is indispensable to us. We have to respect this resource, and that means striking a balance between the amount of water we take from the natural environment and the amount we leave, even if in some cases it dries up. It’s also very important to know how water is used in the Mediterranean, particularly in agriculture, industry, urban development and tourism. The entire 5^th Mediterranean Water Forum will focus on these issues.

This major event on water in the Mediterranean is being held against a backdrop of increasing pressure (pollution, climate change, etc.) on this resource, which is set to worsen with population growth, and the development of tourism, industry and irrigated land. What long-term consequences can we expect?

We can expect the disappearance of lakes, wetlands, rivers and biodiversity. We’ll be sounding the alarm at the forum in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia.

The good news is that a lot is already happening. For example, at this meeting on water in the Mediterranean, we’ll have the presence of major international groups who weren’t interested in water issues 20 years ago. The first is the French food giant Danone, for whom agriculture provides 85% of the inputs for their products. And so, if local agriculture suffers for lack of water, this company will close its units in a number of countries. Danone has taken this parameter into account and has set up a strategy in terms of water resources.

The second major company to be present at the forum is Office Chérifien des Phosphates (OCP), which has reviewed its strategy in terms of water resources, and 15 years later, the Moroccan group is self-sufficient in water. In other words, it no longer takes a single drop of water from the natural environment. Instead, the company reuses wastewater from towns near its Moroccan mines to cover 30% of its needs, and desalts seawater to cover the remaining 70%.

These are the examples we want to bring to the world. If the major groups all get on board, everyone (users, businesses, farmers, etc.) will get on board to support the public authorities in achieving the dual objective of guaranteeing the availability and quality of water so that we can continue to live. Otherwise, we’ll be seeing more and more crises, particularly migratory ones.

In the agricultural sector, the new global situation also requires us to ask ourselves what our resources and capacities are, before choosing the type of agriculture to set up.

In addition to the development of unconventional water, which is a medium-term solution to the challenges threatening water resources in the Mediterranean, the Mediterranean Water Institute (IME) suggests the development of trans-Mediterranean cooperation between local authorities and water professionals. To what extent is this recommendation being implemented, and according to what principles?

The first principle is to better understand and protect existing resources. The second is to gain a better understanding of local water use, and to consider that access to and overconsumption of water can be problematic. Another is to integrate the energy mix into processes for reusing wastewater and desalination, which still poses a problem in terms of brine discharge. The fourth principle boils down to the maintenance of hydraulic infrastructures and the training of local manpower by adopting digital and information technologies, and that’s efficiency.  Because if you’re efficient, you win the trust of users, politicians and even donors.

For example, we’re going to look at ways of associating traditional donors with strategies like Danone’s, mentioned above, and thus improving impact in the countries concerned.

Digitization, which will be the subject of an entire round table in Tunis, could also play an important role in water management in the Mediterranean. Under what conditions?

As in all sectors of activity, we can no longer do without digitalization. But before doing so, we need to work on the fundamentals, which are to know our installations and have inventoried them, to know our subscribers and have inventoried them, and to maintain these two databases.

Of course, once we’ve done that – and it’s a prerequisite – digital technology will facilitate the other processes. In other words, we’ll have easier access to information, we’ll be able to optimize water consumption, and so on. There are a lot of boreholes in France that aren’t metered. In other words, people are pumping water, but we really don’t have any data. But there are smart meters being installed in Europe, and increasingly in Africa, that enable users to monitor their consumption, and detect water leaks that can be corrected in time.

To sum up, digital technology is not a panacea, but something that will enable those who are already working to go further.

After popularizing best practices in Mediterranean water management, what other role does the Mediterranean Water Institute play?

We also share best practices on the distribution of shared resources, such as the Gambia River (1,120 km) or the Senegal River (1,750 km) in the West African sub-region; drought and flood risk management, etc. We also share best practices on the management of water resources in the Mediterranean. Then, if one of our members asks us to help, we do. We limit ourselves to highlighting the problems, as well as the solutions that can be provided. After that, each country is free to apply it as it sees fit.

One plea, perhaps on the subject of financing, which will be made at the 2024 edition of the Mediterranean Water Forum, is to try to ensure that there is no competition between donors to finance access to water. There is also a desire to create an alliance of donors for water, but this will take years to put into practice.

Not long ago, we also proposed the creation of a one-stop shop for water financing in the Mediterranean. We’ve been told it’s impossible, but we’re going to keep pushing this idea, and I think that its realization may come from the awareness of the major groups. I think it’s absolutely essential to get them involved with traditional backers, municipalities and contractors, so that they can be even more effective, because they know what performance is. Without performance, they don’t exist.

They’ll all be in Tunis: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the French Development Agency (AFD), the German Agency for International Development Cooperation (GIZ), with varying degrees of involvement. These financial institutions would have to leave saying, I’ve heard some very interesting things, we’re going to have to change our policy.

The 5^th Mediterranean Water Forum closes on February 7, 2024. What next?

We plan to organize a conference of Mediterranean local authorities in Marseille, France, in early April 2024. The aim is to complete, before the Bali forum, the vision of the Mediterranean Water Forum at local authority level (regions, cities and city associations). In fact, it’s an attempt to bring together political decisions concerning the use of water resources on a daily basis and in the field. It’s not certain that we’ll get there, but it’s a goal we have.

This will be followed by the 10^th World Water Forum in Bali, Indonesia, from May 15 to 18, 2024, where we will be showcasing a dozen interesting solutions for water management in the Mediterranean.

Cover photo: By AFRIK21