NWSAS consultation mechanism: National Information Workshop on the North Western Sahara Aquifer System Tunis, May 31, 2022

As part of its information and awareness-raising activities, the Coordination Unit of the NWSAS Consultation Mechanism held in Tunis, a national information workshop on the NWSAS socio-economic challenges in southern Tunisia.
This meeting was the first of a series of workshops to be held in the three countries (Algeria, Libya and Tunisia) sharing the same resource, and brought together thirty experts and representatives of institutions and entities working on the management, monitoring and exploitation of the NWSAS deep waters in Tunisia.
Mr. Aissa Hlaimi, Coordinator of the Coordination Unit, delivered the opening speech of the works and recalled why the NWSAS Consultation Mechanism was created and the importance of its mission for a coordinated management and better valuation of the resource.
Mr. Nabil Ben Khatra, OSS Executive Secretary, took the floor to emphasize the NWSAS importance to the region and restated the OSS commitment to support the Coordination Unit for the development of the region in a context of climate change.
The participants exchanged views and agreed on the importance of sharing knowledge between all stakeholders, they also reviewed the outcomes of the scientific surveys they carried out.
Needless to say that the NWSAS is highly important for the three relevant countries, it is indeed the only water resource providing support to the economic and social development, and covers a variety of needs ranging from drinking water supply to the populations, irrigation and livestock, as well as the water needs for tourism and industrial activities.
Since it was created in 2007, the Coordination Unit of the NWSAS Consultation Mechanism (NWSAS-CM), has made all efforts to have the objectives met through i) a better dissemination of information and ii) a reinforced dialogue with decision makers on development programs and opportunities as well as capacity building for the technical staff in charge of the management of these strategic water resources in the three countries.