Looking at water in Fez, Morocco

Reporters and editors from the Arabic-speaking world are heading to Fez, Morocco in October for the first Arab Conference for Science Journalists.

Two big ideas will be top of mind for these members of the Arab Science Journalists Association: water scarcity, and the city of Fez itself, celebrating 1,200 years as a vibrant cultural centre in the Arab world.

The conference is one element of a larger forum called SRO V – the fifth conference on Scientific Research Outlook and Technology Development in the Arab World.

Within it, 15 scientific mini-conferences are scheduled on everything from the environment to nanotechnology. The water theme means a close look at desertification, water scarcity, food shortages and low soil productivity – and the fallout from these stark facts of life on water research and policies in the Arab world.

The scientists expect to come up with a white paper on urgent water issues, the possibilities of setting up research networks and virtual centres of excellence in the Arab world, and applying or commercializing results from water research. The journalists will meet Oct. 25, ahead of the main conference, and attend a two-hour session Oct. 26 on water demand management.

Many of the journalists will be attending thanks to the financial support of the International Development Research Centre, the WFSJ and the Arab Science and Technology Foundation.

(photo by ©Berger, via flickr) The old city of Fez

During this one-day conference before they join the scientists at SRO V, the journalists hope to learn from each other, sharpen their skills and take on the ethical issues facing Arab (and not just Arab) science journalists today. One conference organizer, Nadia El-Awady of Cairo, says, “Some Arab journalists just don’t get it that it’s not OK to take someone else’s article from off the Internet, change the author’s name to their own name, and have it pass as their own.”
And then there’s Fez itself. The city has long been home to an annual festival of religious music, and, in El-Awady’s words, “Boy, do those people know how to hold cultural events! I’m really looking forward to being there.”
The Arab Science Journalists Association – today with 140 members – was launched in December 2006 after three years of networking by journalists under the umbrella of the Arab Science and Technology Foundation, based in the United Arab Emirates.

The Arab group is “twinned” with the U.S. National Association of Science Writers. Twinning is a WFSJ project to link nascent associations of science journalists with their more established counterparts. Arab board members attended the annual meeting of the NASW last year in Spokane, Wash.

The Fez conference has already attracted Pulitzer Prize winner Deborah Blum and the editor of Nature India , Subhra Priyadarshini. There will be more big names. Stay tuned.




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