Fadi Georges Comair
Since November 2019, Fadi Georges Comair has been elected the Chairman of the Board of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Hydrological Program IHP (2019-2021) and also elected as IHP Vice-President (2021-2023). In his capacity as President of the Intergovernmental Hydrological Program UNESCO-IHP, Fadi Comair initiated under his mandate, the first IHP Academy which is an intergovernmental platform, identified as the UNESCO-IHP Academy of Coastal Environmental Cooperation for Metropolitan Eco-Sustainable Development “ECOMED”.
He also launched the Strategic Plan for the ninth phase of the Intergovernmental Hydrological Program (IHP-IX) covering the period of 2022-2030 identifies key water priority areas to support Members States to achieve Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specially water related SDGs and other water-related global agendas, such as the Paris agreement on climate change, Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and the New Urban Agenda (NUA).
Mr. Comair initiated the concept of hydro diplomacy and Nexus Water-Energy-Food- Ecosystem and whose goal is to establish water peace at the level of transboundary basins and to apply the Nexus in the management of water bodies to secure future generations. His experience as a negotiator and mediator on international water basins (Jordan, Orontes, Nile, Euphrates and Tigris, Kabir, Drin, Danube, Colorado) led him to be recognized by the international community.
Professor Fadi Comair was also elected in 2021 as president of the French Water Academy and in 2015 the president of MEDURABLE. After the COP 21, he organizes an annual symposium on “Hydro diplomacy and Climate Change for Peace in the Middle East” at the French Senate. He is also a member of the governors of the Arab Water Council (AWC).
Mr. Comair has received the honorary title of Diplomat, Water Resources Engineer (DWRE) from the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers (AAWRE) and is a member of the French Academy of Overseas Sciences “Académie des Sciences d’Outre-Mer” (ASOM). He holds the decoration of the Legion of Honor and the National Order of Merit in France.
Actually, Dr Comair is a Professor of applied hydrology and water resource management at the Cyprus Institute and Director of the Energy Environment Water Research Center (EEWRC). He contributed in the Climate Change Initiative-CCI- that the Cypriot Government has launched and coordinated the Water Task Force of this initiative targeting the EMME Region.
The Initiative gives details on the urgent need for actions to mitigate the impacts of climate change, the Partnership Program for Hydro diplomacy, Migration, Dialogue, Biodiversity, the deployment of renewable energies throughout the EMME region. Professor Comair initiated the concept of the Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem NEXUS at the CYI and actually he is the Principal Investigator of the WEFE4MED Nexus Community of Practice – NCOP -project financed by the EU-PRIMA
He is also the Honorary President of the Mediterranean Network of Basin Organizations (MENBO 2009-2011) and Vice-President of the Euro-Med System Water Information System (EMWIS). In 1987, he began his professional career in France and was head of department at the Concrete Industry Study and Research Center “Centre d’Étude et de Recherche de l’Industrie du Béton” (CERIB) affiliated to the Ministry of Industry.
In Lebanon he was the Director General of the Water Resources of Lebanon and President of the Litani River Authority and initiated the Water Code, the Integrated Resource Water management -IWRM- Ten-year strategic plan and developed innovative engineering water infrastructure projects on national and transboundary international Basins.
Throughout his professional career, Fadi Comair has carried the mission of innovating, launching themes and initiatives on innovation, research and technology for France and Lebanon, and it is in this context that he contributed to the drafting of the “Atlas of Sustainable and Responsible Development” for France, within the framework of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) project advocated by the Presidency of the Republic of France.
He also contributed on publishing the “French Seismic Rules” as a representative of CERIB and was thus a member of the editorial board of these works in 1992, 1996 and 2000. Fadi Comair contributed to the foundation of the Union for the Mediterranean, the launch of the Water Strategy of this union and was one of the initiators of the Mediterranean Solar Plan (PSM).
UNESCO published for Professor Comair in 2015 his book on “Science Diplomacy and Transboundary Water Management: The Orontes Water River Case “. Dr Comair published more than 200 publications, including books related to water resources management at the national and transboundary levels, sustainable development hydro diplomacy and the Nexus.
