Around thirty Algerian students met, on Sunday, a delegation of scientists from NASA, the American space agency, at the headquarters of the World Learning Algeria school, located in Tixeraine in Algiers.
The discussions focused on the theme of climate change. Participants discussed solutions to be developed to prevent and combat resulting phenomena such as desertification, forest fires and floods.
Present at the meeting, Sid Ahmed Boukabara, established in the United States for 25 years, is an Algerian scientist at NASA. He manages the strategy program of the Earth Sciences Division (ESD) within the Science Mission Directorate (SMD) of the US space agency.
During this meeting, Boukabara said he wanted to launch “a project in Algeria to study the earth system composed of several elements, he explained, including earth, air or snow, to name but a few. than these.” The objective is to “understand how these elements interact on climate change and find a solution that can prevent it,” he explained.
“Algeria which is the largest African country in terms of surface area. This is why we want to work with Algerian scientists in order to learn more about the mechanisms of climate change in Algeria which cause a number of natural phenomena such as floods, forest fires and desertification,” specifies the scientist.
In short, the speaker believes that climate change is occurring in an accelerated and continuous manner.
“The collaboration between Algerian and North African scientists in general and those of NASA will help to better understand these phenomena. We discussed several points relating to this subject. We talked a lot about agriculture and its impact on water resources,” he added.
Questioned by us about the contacts made with national officials with a view to possible collaboration, the scientist will say that precisely “the aim of the visit is to discuss with officials of the Ministry of Higher Education, the agency Algerian space and other departments too.
“There is currently no specific project we are going to work on. It’s about establishing relationships,” he added, specifying that the “discussions held so far have been very positive.”
“Tomorrow discussions will begin with officials from different ministries. I hope that this will lead to a collaboration between Algerian scientists and those of NASA,” he said finally.
