RIYADH: An international scientific conference to look for solutions on depleting water will be held in Riyadh from Dec. 3 to 5.  The eighth International Conference on Water Resources and Arid Environments, which is held every two years, is organized jointly by the Ministry of the Environment, Water, and Agriculture; King Saud University; the Prince Sultan Institute for Environmental, Water and Desert Research; and the Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz International Prize for Water. The three-day global meet aims to exchange knowledge and share information in water resources and desert-related fields, explore use of new technologies in the study of arid and semi-arid environments and their natural resources and to provide an opportunity for decision-makers, experts and scientists to share their expertise to find integrative and comprehensive solutions for water resource problems. According to the organizers, the need for water, life’s most precious resource, is increasing exponentially with the rise in the human population, and to ensure that there will be enough water for future generations, a concerted global effort is needed to make water sustainably available. “We need to work together in trust and with a sense of shared responsibility. Our efforts must remain above the narrow concerns of geography, politics, or economic interests, because human life, wherever it is found, is truly the most precious thing, and water is the most precious component of human life,” said Abdulmalek Al-Alshaikh, chairman of the ICWRAE steering committee.