Venue

Images of Bahrain and the UoB provided courtesy of Dr. Hashem Al-Ammal and the University photographic archives.

“The University of Bahrain (UoB) is currently ranked in the top 1000 universities globally by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) which places it in the top 5%. UoB is also ranked in the top 2% globally for employer reputation which emphasizes the quality of graduates. In the QS Arab rankings, for 2019 UoB is ranked in the top 25 which is its highest ever Arab Ranking.
In April 2019 UoB was ranked 213 in the world in the prestigious Times Higher Education Impact Rankings which assess universities against their contribution towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Within this ranking UoB was ranked 66 for quality, education, top 100 for gender equality and 101 for the good jobs and economic growth indicator.
The Kingdom of Bahrain is delighted to host the Future Earth Summit at the University of Bahrain. The MENA region is currently at the center of several trends that are shaping the challenges and opportunities that we face today. In the future, the MENA region is expected to be one of the most highly urbanised in the world, and with new cities under construction, the level is still rising. It is a struggle for countries to develop sufficient infrastructure to cope with both the population explosion and the pressures brought by climate change. Resource scarcity, water consumption and energy diversification will become more pressing issues in coming years. According to the World Bank, as the MENA region’s population continues to grow - and it is projected to double over the next 40 years - per capita water availability will fall by more than 50% by 2050. Moreover, climate change will affect weather and precipitation patterns with the consequence that the MENA region may see more frequent and severe droughts.
The challenges of water security are critical for the MENA region and solutions can only be found by creating interactive platforms for policy makers, researchers, scientists, technology experts, and the private sector to come together to seek solutions, to critically examine and form collaborations to tackle this issue with purpose.
I look forward to welcoming you to Bahrain to participate in the Future Earth Summit 2020.”

H.E. Prof. Riyad Yousif Hamzah
President of the University of Bahrain