Professor Choon Fong Shih
President
Professor, Mechanical Engineering
The Red Sea - A Living Treasure
Red Sea Research: Past and Present Workshop
Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
March 8, 2010
A warm welcome to all who have joined us here today at KAUST, and thank you for participating in this two-day Red Sea Research: Past and Present workshop.
I would also like to welcome all our participants from Saudi universities (both faculty and students), government departments, NGOs, and from overseas. And this may be the first time I have ever welcomed a boat to KAUST, but the R/V AEGAEO research vessel deserves special recognition, as does the Hellenic Center for Marine Research for their continued support to conduct the KAUST Red Sea Expedition. And last but certainly not least, I would like to thank the workshop organizing team led by Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Suwailem, as well as many others, for their diligent work over the past weeks to arrange this event.
Growing up in Singapore, a small island in South East Asia, the water was ever-present in my life, and I have come to love fishing and to love the sea. I know firsthand the importance, at both the local and the global level, of our oceans and waterways.
As most of you undoubtedly know, the planet’s oceans and waterways cover 75% of the earth’s surface and provide 99% of the Earth’s living space. They are a critical source of food, water, biodiversity, weather regulation, and sustainable prosperity. And just as rainforests play a key role in the ecosystems on land, so too do the coral reefs, what I call the rainforests of the oceans. Coral reefs play a key role in maintaining the ocean’s health and sustainability, especially in the Red Sea.
Each day when I look outside my office, I am struck by the beauty of the Red Sea, and I am reminded that it is a privilege to live and work on its shores. Truly, the Red Sea is a living treasure that we must work to protect and to preserve.
For one, the Red Sea is an important regional asset for Saudi Arabia. It is a critical passageway between East and West, and is increasingly contributing to economic and human development in the Kingdom. But beyond being an economic treasure, the Red Sea is also a treasure trove of possibilities and answers that can be discovered only through research. This potential is why we are gathered here today. It is because of its wide array of distinctive features as a body of water, with unique geologic history, oceanographic properties, and ecosystem structuring, that the Red Sea provides such promising opportunities for new scientific discoveries
As a graduate research university on the shores of the Red Sea, KAUST is committed to undertaking research on the marine environment, with a focus on the Red Sea. KAUST aims to develop an integrated understanding of coral reef ecosystems and their importance to sustaining biodiversity, fisheries, and the long-term health of the oceans and waterways that cover vast stretches of the planet’s surface.
KAUST’s dedication to this research on the marine environment is illustrated by the time, energy, and resources we have already invested in this area. Our Red Sea Research Center, led by Center Director Dr. James Luyten, is one of our founding nine Research Centers, and is charged with developing a scientific basis for sustaining and conserving coral reef environments along the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia. Our Coastal and Marine Resources Core Lab will be able to construct and deploy modern oceanographic instrumentation, provide operational services to support research vessels for marine exploration, diving and sampling, as well as maintain indoor and outdoor seawater facilities for culturing marine organisms. And some of KAUST’s earliest partnerships were with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and the American University in Cairo, as well as with King Abdulaziz University and the Saudi Geological Survey.
In addition to producing research results, KAUST’s work in the Red Sea can also help to fulfill what I call KAUST’s third mission – to connect people and improve lives through science and technology. Let me explain. In the 21st century, advancing science and technology is a global endeavor, as pockets of excellence are found in different parts of the world. Consequently, today’s science and technology projects are increasingly more team-based and more international. KAUST is working to connect people and projects to facilitate exchange of ideas and collaboration across cultures and continents. Through this collaboration in science and technology projects, KAUST can create new opportunities that generate benefits for the Kingdom, the region, and the world.
This is certainly the case with KAUST’s Red Sea research. Young we may be, but we are already pursuing marine research by vigorously reaching out to the regional and global scientific community. Just look at the program in your hands, or at the colleagues around you, and you will see that KAUST is bringing together scientists from all over the world, and particularly from those countries that border the Red Sea, to explore our shared deep-blue treasure. KAUST’s Red Sea research is a perfect example of our pursuit of multidisciplinary research collaboration, with talents both homegrown and overseas-based. This collaborative science also serves to advance science and technology and to support KAUST’s education and research, which I call KAUST’s first mission.
Today’s workshop is subtitled past and present, and in this sense, the KAUST Red Sea Expedition fits perfectly into this framework. The first Red Sea Expedition was in Fall 2008, and the work of that expedition will be showcased later in this workshop. And now in the present, we are soon launching another Expedition. For this year’s expedition, I find it heartening that there has been a huge increase in the numbers of research topics and scientists involved, compared to the previous expedition in 2008. This makes me optimistic for future collaborations, as well as for a growing interest in the Red Sea and the secrets it holds in its waters.
In addition to the “past” and “present” mentioned in the workshop’s title, I would now also like to add “future”, for the past and the present can guide us as we move towards a future of sustainable prosperity.
Starting in January 2011, KAUST will launch The Red Sea Science and Innovation Forum. The Red Sea Forum is an annual meeting that will bring together scientific minds, entrepreneurial innovators and industry leaders on the shores of the Red Sea. The Red Sea Forum will feature intellectually-challenging workshops and symposia to promote exchange of ideas focusing on science and technology projects, and will be a platform for enhancing the interplay of science and innovation and advancing sustainable prosperity. KAUST also hopes that the Red Sea Forum will catalyze intellectual inquiry, fostering open discourse and networking across communities, cultures, continents. And most importantly, the topics for the Red Sea Forum’s workshops and symposia will be specifically chosen to focus on areas that directly affect all of us in this region. You will be hearing more about The Red Sea Science and Innovation Forum soon, and I hope to see many of you here again in January of next year.
In closing, judging from the distinguished guests and speakers at this workshop, I can already sense that these two days will be a resounding success. I can also see in your faces that you are all friends of the sea, just as I am. We all care deeply about the planet’s waters, and I therefore wish you all the best in your research – that your work may go a long way towards preserving the living treasure right outside our doors and right beyond our shores.
Thank you.