Reverse Linkage

103 DEVELOPMENT THROUGH SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION In more practical terms MEDRC intends to contribute to lowering the cost of desalination technology, making it more affordable to resolve long-term water scarcity needs in the MENA region. MEDRC holds a wide-ranging portfolio of more than 200 environmental research projects with a total project value of more than US$14 million which has involved bringing the best regional and global expertise together, along with regional researchers from 34 countries, to help find solu- tions to the challenge of fresh water scarcity in the region. To this end MEDRC has supported more than 115 regional nationals with Master’s and PhD water research fellowships in its regional fellowships programmes. MEDRC has been conducting a full range of training programmes in reverse osmosis and water management, involving more than 2,200 trainees among desalination plant staff and water authori- ties as well as new graduates. MEDRC research projects have led to more than 300 scientific papers published in interna- tional journals, and countless reports. Efficient desalination, better water reuse and a shift to renewable technology is urgently needed to meet the challenge of fresh water scarcity, and MEDRC aims specifi- cally at conducting, facilitating, and promoting basic and applied research in the water desalination field, including reverse osmosis (RO) membrane technologies and renew- able energies (RE)-based desalination, as well as dealing with environmental impact concerns. Its aim is to become the regional hub for exchanging and transferring knowledge on the most innovative and efficient technologies of desali- nation between and within the MENA countries, including the hosting country, Oman. Two basic technologies have been widely used to sepa- rate salts from ocean water – thermal evaporation and membrane separation. In the last ten years, RO technology has come to dominate desalination markets, due mainly to its low investment and total water costs achieved by lower- ing, to approximately 3 KWh/m 3 , the energy consumption. 1 Since the energy requirements in desalination processes play Desalination for agriculture in Oman, funded by the Agriculture and Fisheries Development Fund. This reverse osmosis unit is fed by a solar photovoltaic system, MEDRC facilities, North Al-Hail, Oman Image: MEDRC