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KAUST Hosts Int’l Conference on Sustainable Development

The four-day conference, the first of its kind in the Kingdom and the entire Middle East has attracted 1,000 scientists and innovators from leading regional universities
The four-day conference, the first of its kind in the Kingdom and the entire Middle East has attracted 1,000 scientists and innovators from leading regional universities
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KAUST Hosts Int’l Conference on Sustainable Development

The four-day conference, the first of its kind in the Kingdom and the entire Middle East has attracted 1,000 scientists and innovators from leading regional universities
The four-day conference, the first of its kind in the Kingdom and the entire Middle East has attracted 1,000 scientists and innovators from leading regional universities

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) has inaugurated the international conference on sustainable development organized by Times Higher Education (THE).

The four-day conference, the first of its kind in the Kingdom and the entire Middle East has attracted 1,000 scientists and innovators from leading regional universities, including Prince Sultan University, the Knowledge University, the United Arab Emirates University, and Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University.

Officials from the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Ministry of Economy and Planning, and the Bureau of Strategic Administration are also in attendance.

The President of KAUST, Dr. Tony Chan, emphasized that the conference serves as a platform to foster strong collaborations among participating institutions.

He expressed hope that academic and research organizations would align their educational and innovation programs to achieve concrete and impactful outcomes.

Minister of Investment Eng. Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih participated in the conference and delivered a presentation on investment in the Kingdom's transformation.

Al-Falih underscored the conference's significance as a platform for showcasing global efforts and research in sustainable development.

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Droughts in Iraq Endanger Buffalo, and Farmers' Livelihoods

A man provides fresh drinking water for his buffaloes, in the Chebayesh marshes of Dhi Qar province, Iraq, April 18, 2025. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani
A man provides fresh drinking water for his buffaloes, in the Chebayesh marshes of Dhi Qar province, Iraq, April 18, 2025. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani
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Droughts in Iraq Endanger Buffalo, and Farmers' Livelihoods

A man provides fresh drinking water for his buffaloes, in the Chebayesh marshes of Dhi Qar province, Iraq, April 18, 2025. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani
A man provides fresh drinking water for his buffaloes, in the Chebayesh marshes of Dhi Qar province, Iraq, April 18, 2025. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani

Iraq’s buffalo population has more than halved in a decade as the country's two main rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, suffer severe droughts that endanger the livelihood of many farmers and breeders.
"People have left ... We are a small number of houses remaining," said farmer Sabah Ismail, 38, who rears buffalo in the southern province of Dhi Qar.
"The situation is difficult ... I had 120 to 130 buffalo; now I only have 50 to 60. Some died, and we sold some because of the drought," said Ismail while tending his herd.
Buffalo have been farmed for centuries in Iraq for their milk, and are mentioned in ancient Sumerian inscriptions from the region.
According to Iraqi marshland experts, the root causes of the water crisis driving farmers out of the countryside are climate change, upstream damming in Türkiye and Iran, outdated domestic irrigation techniques and a lack of long-term management plans.
The country has also endured decades of warfare.
Located within the cultivable lands known as the Fertile Crescent that have been farmed for millennia, the Iraqi landscape has suffered from upstream damming of the Tigris and Euphrates and lower rainfall, threatening the lifestyle of farmers like Ismail and leading many to move to the cities.
Iraqi marshland expert Jassim al-Assadi told Reuters that the number of buffalo in Iraq had fallen since 2015 from 150,000 to fewer than 65,000.
The decline is "mostly due to natural reasons: the lack of needed green pastures, pollution, illness ... and also farmers refraining from farming buffalos due to scarcity of income," al-Assadi said.
A drastic decline in crop production and a rise in fodder prices have also left farmers struggling to feed their animals.
The difficulty of maintaining a livelihood in Iraq's drought-stricken rural areas has contributed to growing migration towards the country's already-choked urban centers.
"This coming summer, God only knows, the mortality rate may reach half," said Abdul Hussain Sbaih, 39, an Iraqi buffalo breeder.