Professor Dr. Mahmoud Saleh Mahdi participated in the 4th Baghdad International Water Conference, April 2024, where he attended the opening session and the interactive dialogue session “National Water Dialogue Project” alongside representatives from several United Nations organizations, the Office of the Prime Minister’s Representative, and the Council of Ministers’ Advisory Committee, led by the Technical Advisor to the Iraqi Minister of Environment, with Dr. Haider Abdul-Amir Al-Thamery accompanying him in the session. Additionally, Professor Dr. Mahmoud delivered a lecture on “Smart Water Resources Management in Iraq” titled “Smart Water Resources Management Based on Artificial Intelligence as a Climate Change Adaptation Strategy”. The session was co-organized with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), the Arab Water Council, APSU (Arabian Peninsula and Gulf States), FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), and the National Center for Water Resources Management. The session was chaired by the Director-General of the National Center for Water Resources Management (Dr. Wassam Khalaf Al-Abed).
The lecture included a presentation on the importance of using advanced monitoring technologies and decision-making tools in water resources management, as well as ways to utilize artificial intelligence in the integrated smart water management system in Iraq. The session highlighted the role that the application of smart water management systems based on artificial intelligence algorithms can play in addressing the challenges of climate change and supporting adaptation plans to mitigate these changes within the framework of climate-resilient water resources management.
It is worth noting that the final recommendations of the 4th Baghdad International Water Conference included recommendation 12, which encourages the expansion of using remote sensing technologies and artificial intelligence in the development of water resources monitoring and management, as well as monitoring and reporting of breaches.
