Water quickly becomes a defining estate of the 21st century. Not oil, no data, but water. When we look ahead, this fundamental element, which is essential for life, agriculture and industry, is up to date, in order to exceed the natural resources in its globally strategic importance and economic value.
The demand for water increases at an unprecedented pace. The pressure on global freshwater supply is accelerated from increasing urban population groups to the water-intensive requirements of the AI data centers, the production of semiconductor and the production of green hydrogen. What was once regarded as freely accessible resource is increasingly subject to scarcity, speculation and geopolitical risk.
The growing global role of the VAE
At the same time, the VAE quickly becomes a worldwide leading company in water solutions through large investments in the rainwater harvest, innovative reuse of water and advanced desalination. A central example is Tawelah in Abu Dhabi and the world's largest desalination system, which can add 900,000 cubic meters of water a day to meet the needs of one million people.
The United Arab Emirates have also crossed their limits as water solutions and overarching with trading partners such as China, Jordan and Israel. As a Quid-Pro-Quo agreement, in which energy capacity or support for water capacity and / or services are exchanged, this trading form often supplements carbon-rich nations with the possibility of supporting their water safety and at the same time offering water-rich countries energy. On the international stage, the VAE have already made significant disputes to recognize the vital status of Water. At COP28, it carried out a pioneering agreement that expressly recognized the critical role of water in climate adjustment. With a foundation of 150 million US dollars about the Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative, the United Arab Emirates is also used for breakthrough technologies, while preparing to organize the Pivotal 2026 and Water Conference.
While we have our efforts to alleviate the effects of water shortages on our safety, it is time that all countries reinterpret water in the same light as other goods – a very strategic capital that is an essential part of the solutions for the promotion of global sustainability and climate protection solutions.
A transparent, neutral and legal solid water market
Almost half of the world population had a shortage of water last year, a phenomenon that increasingly reflected patterns of geopolitical tension. We see this alive in the Nile basin, where competing claims between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan are escalating on diplomatic patsitions. Similar tribes are on the Colorado River in North America and in the Mekong Delta Southeast Asia and only recently between Pakistan and India.
As with energy, water is politicized, but unlike oil or gas, we have no mature markets to manage and alleviate these tensions. The lack of common trade frames, transparent price mechanisms or enforceable governance structures leaves water susceptible to fragmentation and conflicts. While oil fields are heavily guarded around the world, the most important resource in the world remains, undervalued and unprotected. Without a clear price signal, water is treated as unlimited resource, which leads to waste, mismanagement and unjust access, which protect innovations under protection and at the same time no longer attract the financing of the private sector.
Here, global trade and global logistics play a crucial role – not through the surf of water for profit, but to bring structure, neutrality and transparency into the allocation. By recognizing that water is a wealth class with a concrete economic value, we can transform it into collateral for financial instruments in order to unlock the urgently needed capital for sustainable water infrastructure, storage, maintenance and innovation. However, the financial infrastructure is only part of the solution. The physical infrastructure, especially logistics, is also important.
The ability to transport water efficiently and inexpensively in loose fill will determine the success of global water trade and while a large part of the global freshwater is geographically concentrated, the real challenge is to bring it into areas that are confronted with acute scarcity. Innovative logistics solutions, including the large -scale maritime transport, now enable this, which are really needed, are strong partnerships on site to reliably receive, store and distribute water. Without this logistical backbone, even the most advanced water trading models will proceed briefly.
As a solution, technological breakthroughs that enable distributed water production through atmospheric humidity, such as Hawana Water, a DMCC company, have promised to make an excessive contribution with impressive efficiency and volume rate. In addition to accessibility, the technology will also play a key role in adapting water for various purposes. For example, companies such as Enagic and its Kangen water systems generate hydrogen -rich, alkalized water that is produced with its patented ionizing technologies to optimize health through their antioxidant properties.
Dubai – The future capital of global water trade
The same principles that apply to gold, diamonds and oil must now be applied to water. For these reasons, we build the DMCC Water Center, a dedicated ecosystem for water -focused companies, which will make innovation, technologies, sustainable best practice, knowledge exchange and education. The water center will eventually serve as the main neuchter for pioneers in the field of water management, from Watertech innovators to logistics providers.
For this purpose, we are proud to have signed a symbol with fresh water Norway, which has brought a billion liter of natural drinking water every year in the next 50 years to Dubai, and a partnership in works with the Aqua index, whose founder Yaacov Shirazi is a early pioneer of water token and a leading preference for global transparency.
As a raw material center, it is our job to offer a neutral trade, whereby Dubai offers a risk and regulated environment in which international actors work together, are innovative and can inevitably produce a decisive requirement as legal tensions above water.
The world cannot afford that water becomes a source of division, but a basis for cooperation. In this capacity, the DMCC Water Center can serve as an agnostic agent for development, trade and progress and at the same time solve one of the most urgent humanitarian challenges in the world – clean water to a right and not a privilege.
The writer is Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, DMCC
Ahmed bin Waters
Ahmed bin Sulayem is the CEO and Chief Executive Officer from DMCC and drove his G…More