Speaker

Since November 2019, Fadi Georges Comair has been the Chairman of the Board of UNESCO's Intergovernmental Hydrological Program IHP (2019-2021) and the representative of Arab countries as IHP Vice-President (2021-2023). He is also Professor at the Cyprus Institute and Director of the Research, Environment, Energy and Water Centre (EEWRC), Honorary President of the Mediterranean Network of Basin Organizations (MENBO 2009-2011) and Vice-President of the Euro-Med System for Information for Water Professions (EMWIS). He also presides the French Water Academy and Medurable association and since 2015 has organized, in coordination with the Senator of French Citizens Abroad Mr. Olivier Cadic, annual symposia on "Hydrodiplomacy 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) and a member of the Water Academy and a Knight of the Legion of Honor and the National Order of Merit.

Mr. Comair was also appointed Ambassador of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

As part of his activities on the preservation of cultural and natural heritage with the Inter-Academic Group for Development (GID), Fadi Comair has launched several initiatives in Lebanon and Cyprus to address the issue of sustainable development in its complexity and to mobilize knowledge for future generations.

Mr. Comair was also named "Commander of the National Order of the Cedar" in recognition of his great service to Lebanon and his acts of courage and dedication of great moral value, as for years of public service.

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.

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 UfM project advocated by the Presidency of the Republic and 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.  

In his capacity as President of the Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme, Fadi Comair initiated, in close collaboration with UNESCO, 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 Programme (IHP-IX) covering 2022-2029 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).

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".

He negotiated with the World Bank the loan agreement for the rehabilitation of the project of the National Office of Litani, its hydroelectric stations and its irrigation perimeters; this type of agreement was unique in Lebanon and was the only one that could achieve its objectives with a budget of 80 million dollars. It should be noted that the rehabilitation of this project has made it possible to guarantee the sustainability of Litani which is the main artery of Lebanon and which is until now an essential source for the production of hydroelectric power.

His experience as a negotiator and mediator on international basins (Jordan, Orontes, Nile, Euphrates and Tigris, Kebir) led Mr. Comair to initiate the concept of Nexus Water-Energy-Food and the concept of hydrodiplomacy 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.

He has been a university professor since 1993 and a research fellow at NYU and in 2003 he founded and directed the Water Energy Environment Research Centre (WEERC, 2003-2016) of the University of Notre Dame (NDU) in Lebanon and chaired several doctoral thesis juries at prominent universities (Sorbonne, Lyon I, Lille, INSA Rennes and Toulouse).

Fadi Georges Comair has launched Lebanon's Water Strategy, which is based on integrated water resources management and has led infrastructure projects (dams, hilly lakes, drinking water treatment stations, irrigation perimeters, hydroelectric stations, solar and wind renewable energies, etc.) as part of his activities as President of the Litani National Office (1993-2000) and Director General of Water Resources at the Ministry of Energy and Water in Lebanon (1999 to 2021).

Mr. Comair is the author of more than 200 publications, including books related to water resources management at the national and transboundary levels, sustainable development and hydrodiplomacy.

As Director of the EEWRC, he contributed in the Climate Change Initiative that the Cypriot Government has launched with the direct involvement of Cypriot President Mr. Nicos Anastasiades. The Initiative gives details on the urgent need for actions to mitigate the impacts of climate change, the Partnership Program for Hydrodiplomacy, Migration, Dialogue, Biodiversity, the deployment of renewable energies throughout the EMME region.