The first ever Islamic world science and technology summit which will take place in Astana, Kazakhstan on 10th and 11th September this week has placed food and water security as a major priority.

The aim of the summit, which has been organized by the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC), is to increase investment in science and technology as a way of addressing food, water and climate change challenges across the Islamic world.

The end-goal is to build new “knowledge-economies” of the future by having Muslim majority nations - all 57 of which will be represented at the summit - commit to increasing investment in science and technology to tackle development challenges, particularly around food and water security.

Confirmed attendees include the President of Pakistan, Mamoon Hussain and President of Bangladesh, Abdul Hamid. Other countries represented by senior Government Ministers include Malaysia, Nigeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Libya.

Government Ministers and Heads of State will discuss the implementation of national policies that address food, water, climate change and health challenges by using science and technology.

Key challenges the OIC Science and Technology Summit is designed to address include:

• climate change and the consequent desertification, drought and degradation of land and water
• increasing scientific achievement and output in the Islamic world so that the Muslim world can better compete with West in scientific innovation
• the dangers of rising young populations across Muslim nations with dwindling employment opportunities

Contributions from 120 scientists from across the Islamic world have informed the final national policy proposals. Protecting against water shortages has been flagged up as a key issue.

Water- OIC flags up report that countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh could become uninhabitable by 2100 .. and the Middle East by just 2050

The OIC Assistant Secretary General for Science and Technology (and former Ambassador of Pakistan to Saudi Arabia), Ambassador Naeem Khan, said:

“According to the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change, water scarcity will increase in the 21st century. Water scarcity will be made worse by climate change – particularly in the Islamic-world where desertification, drought and degradation of land and water is already a major problem.”

“Just last month the Journal Science Advances found that countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh could become uninhabitable by 2100. According to Germany's Max Planck, a similarly bleak result could be achieved in the Middle East by just 2050.”

“In addition, several studies have shown a link between climate change, the subsequent effect on drought and food prices and the outbreak of conflict.”

“That is why the Islamic world’s first collective science and technology summit has placed food and water security as a major priority.”

National policy proposals on water the Summit will address include:

• Prepare national water budgets at the ‘local’ levels, supplemented by monitoring of sub-aquifers, glaciers and loss in canals.
• Increase efficiency in water use and combat desertification by encouraging drought and salt tolerant seeds and practices, drip irrigation and laser land levelling
• Aim for maximum recycling of urban waste water - phytoremediation is highlighted as an important tool for chronic industrial and toxic waste pollution

Deeper collaboration between Muslim world nations needed to tackle climate change

The OIC is also calling for deeper collaboration between the Muslim world nations to tackle climate change. The Summit will be discussing proposals for an OIC Advisory Group on climate change with experts drawn from the OIC’s 57 Muslim majority member states. A first step for the group would be to prepare a detailed plan of action including mitigation options. Other climate change proposals include:

• Preparation of national policies for effective planning and management for the protection and restoration of ecosystems, including the marine environment
• Establishing stations which monitor and collect detailed local data over time for integration into system models, instead of remote foreign studies
•  Preparing a template of ‘green technologies’ which encompass the human habitat

Reducing greenhouse gases by targeting a renewable energy share of at least 10% in national energy mix of OIC States by 2025, together with enhancing national research for increasing solar cell efficiencies to reach commercially deployable conversion factors of 40%, are set out in a range of policy proposals for energy.

Space exploration, astronomy and Big Data

Big Data, space exploration and astronomy are among other areas of scientific development policy proposals which will be on the agenda.

The OIC Summit will consider the establishment of a Center for Space Technologies which could ultimately lead to an Inter-Islamic Space Agency, focusing on projects from space launch systems to manned vehicles. It will also look at proposals for the design and launch of small satellites, singly or jointly, for experiments in low orbit, together with the joint design and launch of remote sensing satellites for observation, crop estimation and disaster management, rescue at sea, and weather prediction.

On Big Data, the Summit will address connecting all 57 OIC member states through a secure, high-speed intra-OIC network.

Islamic world must re-orient its perspective by reclaiming science as its own - not see science as alien doctrine that threatens Islamic traditions

OIC Secretary General, HE Dr. Yousef A. Al-Othaimeen, commented:

“Islam lays special importance on seeking knowledge …over a thousand years ago, algebra, astronomy, geography, medicine and industrial chemistry were all pioneered across the Islamic world for nearly half a millennium.

“Rather than seeing science as an alien doctrine that threatens Islamic traditions, the Islamic world must re-orient its perspective by reclaiming science as its own. The task at our upcoming summit will be to capture this spirit, and reinject it into the Muslim world.”

Founded in 1969, the OIC is the second largest inter-governmental organisation in the world, with 57-member states from across the Islamic world. The OIC has permanent delegations to the United Nations and the European Union.