(_{(Photocredit: Hoda El Mahgoub)}

On December 19^th 2019 Prof. Michael Schneider, Head of Hydrogeology Group at Freie Universität Berlin, was invited through the DAAD COSIMENA project, to deliver a key note speech at the Sinai Environmental Development conference: Digital Map & Economic Future. The event was organized and held at the Suez Canal University in partnership with the DAAD and the Water and Wastewater Company in North & South Sinai. The core concept of the conference was to discuss employment and income opportunities for the people of Sinai from their surrounding environment.

The presentation of Prof. Schneider was titled “Sustainable water management in development projects: Protection of groundwater resources and MAR in semi-closed water cycles and showcased the experiences that were gathered through implementing feasible and cost-effective projects in similar environmental conditions as in Egypt. Case studies in Germany, India, Saudi Arabia and Oman were presented. In following sessions topics on quarrying and mining potentialities as well as the Ecology and the ecotourism opportunities of the Sinai Area were discussed and presented.