From 2 to 4 November 2026, the Mohammed VI Museum for Water Civilization – AMAN hosted in Marrakech the First Arabophone Academic Water Summit – Culture, Civilization and Governance. An initiative of Ambassade de l’Eau (Water Embassy), co-organized with the AMAN Museum and Cadi Ayyad University, held under the patronage of UNESCO, with technical support from the Directorate General of Hydraulics, the Summit brought together academics, researchers, students, basin agencies and institutions from the Arabophone Space around a shared conviction: water can be the first ground for lasting cooperation between our countries.
Young people opened the Summit. Coming from Moroccan universities and from several countries of the Arabophone Space, and joined by the Youth Water Parliament (France), the Young Water Ambassadors presented their work alongside the Tensift and Sebou basin agencies. After a workshop on the Moroccan pilot project, they drafted and adopted the Marrakech Call of the Young Water Ambassadors.
Following the official opening ceremony and the screening of the film “Le Trait d’union” (“The Link”), academics, institutions and international partners engaged in dialogue on three themes: water, heritage and cultural mediation; good water governance in the service of peace; lessons learned from countries of the Arabophone Space.
The final day looked to the future: the strategic vision of Water Arabophonie, the integrated water–energy–food–ecosystems approach, international cooperation and partnerships. The Summit closed with the adoption of the Marrakech Declaration.
The Marrakech Call was drafted collectively and adopted on 2 November 2026, at the close of the Pre-Summit of the Young Water Ambassadors. It is distinct from the Marrakech Declaration, read at the close of the Summit on 4 November.
The reference file of the Call of the Young Water Ambassadors is undergoing documentary verification. It will be made available again once this check is complete.
A new full reading by three Young Water Ambassadors from Lebanon is in preparation. This recording, made after the Summit, will be added to this page together with the photograph of the group of Young Water Ambassadors of the Arabophone Space.
The Marrakech Declaration sets out the commitments of the Summit; the strategic vision gives their direction. Each of these two documents brings the three languages together in a single file.
Adopted on 2 November 2026, at the close of the Pre-Summit. Reference file undergoing documentary verification.
Read at the close of the Summit on 4 November 2026: sixteen commitments for youth, research, the Arabic language and cooperation.
Download (PDF)“A language, a network, a generation”: address by Jeannette PRETOT, 4 November 2026.
Download (PDF)
The playlist brings together the contributions of the three days and the thank-you film. The contributions are listed below by day, in programme order; each title opens the corresponding video.
To all those who made this Summit possible.
Film “Le Trait d’union” (“The Link”): French version · Arabic version.
The Arabophonie network will grow through work carried out with the UMJAE method: young people, supported by their teachers and in dialogue with those responsible for water, produce analyses and proposals, then share them between universities and territories. Water is the first field of this cooperation.
Designed by Ambassade de l’Eau, the method of the World Union of Young Water Ambassadors (UMJAE) rests on university supervision, territorial diagnosis, dialogue with water stakeholders, the drafting of proposals and their presentation to those concerned. It is independent of the tools that may serve it.
In Morocco, the pilot project, launched with the Sebou basin and then joined by the Tensift basin, offers a first body of experience. UMJAE teams are not delegations formed in advance: they are built through the joint work of young people, their university supervisors and water institutions.
The Secretariat of the United Nations Water Conference (Abu Dhabi, 8–10 December 2026) selected, from more than 230 applications, our virtual side event “From Marrakech to Abu Dhabi: Building the First Arabophone Regional Academic Water Cooperation Model to Accelerate SDG 6”.
Wednesday 9 December 2026, 13:00–14:15 in Abu Dhabi (10:00–11:15 in Paris and Rabat). The meeting is held online, with registration: contributions prepared on video, followed by a live debate with the audience. The Marrakech Call of the Young Water Ambassadors and the Marrakech Declaration will be presented.
Teachers, students, institutions: the official pathway sets out the steps, the commitments and the documents. Each request is examined; it does not amount to automatic membership.
See the UMJAE pathway (in French)Academics, young people, basin organizations, institutions and partners may propose a scientific, educational, territorial or cultural contribution. Write to us stating your institution, your country, your field of expertise and a concrete proposal. This expression of interest prepares a consultation; it is neither an appointment nor a mandate to represent a country.
Write to saae.arabophonie@gmail.comAmbassade de l’Eau thanks the Mohammed VI Museum for Water Civilization – AMAN, which hosted and co-organized the Summit, and Cadi Ayyad University, the co-organizing university, for its commitment and for mobilizing its students.
It thanks UNESCO for its patronage, the Directorate General of Hydraulics for its technical support, and the Sebou and Tensift hydraulic basin agencies.
It thanks all the universities, grandes écoles and research centres of Morocco and of the entire Arabophone Space, the international institutions and organizations, the speakers, the Young Water Ambassadors and their professors, and all those who made this Summit possible.
Any request for correction concerning a name, position, title or subtitle may be sent to saae.arabophonie@gmail.com.