Water conservation in the Nile basin
- Saving water provides resources to turn desert into farmland -

After receiving his Ph.D. in agriculture from the University of Tokyo, and serving as research assistant in the Faculty of Agriculture at Gifu University, and associate professor in the Faculty of Agriculture at Iwate University, he became associate professor at the University of Tsukuba in 1982, and then professor of irrigation in 1997. He has been professor emeritus at the University of Tsukuba since 2012.
He conducted a comprehensive study of the irrigation systems of Japan, examining both natural and social conditions. Since 1990, he has been involved in international activities on the development and management of water resources and irrigation.

Japan perspective

How to manage the Earth's water resources

We have only limited fresh water resources available for us on Earth. Due to population growth occurring mainly in developing countries, increasing demand for water is approaching the limit of water resource availability in many countries and regions. The problems emerge in different ways from region to region. Being one of the world's first countries to deal with this issue, Japan has grappled with the improvement of water management for more than 300 years, and also undergone serious urbanization in previously rural areas. Utilizing historical experience and the latest observation technologies, we gained a clear understanding of current water use system in the Delta, and proposed a basic direction for efficient and sustainable use of water resources. Most important of all is that the government, farmers and citizens share a common understanding on the reality of water to make transparent decisions. Researchers in this field are expected to make valuable contributions in this process.

After graduating from the Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University (B.Sc. in Soil science), he obtained his M.Sc. (Water Management) and Ph. D. (Environmental Physics) from Wageningen Agricultural University, the Netherlands.
He has been working on environmental transport of heat and mass (water and pollutants) in ecosystems with the aim of optimizing their management regimes and reducing the effect of human activities on the ecosystems.

Egypt's perspective

Improving the water and soil management skills of Egyptian researchers

The success of the ancient Egyptians in establishing a great civilization was due to their success in understanding and coping very well with the hydrological and then agro-hydrological system of the River Nile. Nowadays, Egypt faces many challenges concerning the sustainable use of its water and soil resources. These challenges are represented by rapid population growth, together with rising expectations and demands on the resources, which exert big stresses on the ecosystem.
The dynamics of heat and mass exchange in the ecosystem is what controls the accumulation of certain substances in the environment and so, the long term sustainability of the system. The equipment and expertise provided by The WAT project to Egypt represents a very important step in the direction of understanding this exchange for the Egyptian Ecosystem. I would like to thank SATREPS, the Japanese researchers and the Japanese people for their help in this regard.