Sustainability

Keynote
A country with no water, Fahad Al-Attiya
B1–C2
Discussion
1 Work in groups. Discuss the questions.
1 Do you think water should be considered a natural resource? How important is it relative to other
natural resources in your country?
2 What are the most important things countries need water for?
3 What water resources do you have in your country? Can you think of any other sources of water
that could be used?
4 What kinds of water-related issues do you have in your country (e.g. flooding, droughts,
contaminated drinking water, etc.)?

Keywords
2 Read this summary of Fahad Al-Attiya’s TED Talk, A country with no water. Match the words
and phrases in bold with their definitions (1–9).
In the 1940s, Qatar had a population of 11,000. There was no water or any energy resources.
Most of the people lived in coastal fishing villages, or they were nomads and roamed around the
desert looking for water. But in 1939, they discovered oil resources, realized its commercial value
and after World War II, fully exploited it. This helped urbanize the country and develop cities,
transforming it into a country with abundant power and money. But it is still missing one key
essential element for life – water. Infrastructure engineer Fahad Al-Attiya talks about how
desalination produces Qatar’s water supply and how it plans to use renewable energy in the
future to produce an even greater amount of water for its rapidly-growing population, which is
already consuming more water than any other country in the world.

1 an important aspect of something

____________________
2 to transform a rural or unoccupied area into a town or city
____________________
3 travelled around an area without any definite direction
____________________
4 used something for advantage or profit
____________________
5 the basic organizational elements of a system
____________________
6 large quantities of energy
____________________
7 using up
____________________
8 supplies of a liquid fossil fuel
____________________
9 a process that eliminates salt and minerals to produce fresh water
____________________

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A country with no water

Sustainability
Comprehension
3 Watch Fahad Al-Attiya’s talk on TED.com. Tick the topics the speaker refers to.
1 Making sure food is available in Qatar for the next two years. _____
2 Searching for water. _____
3 The discovery of water. _____
4 The development of towns and cities. _____
5 The amount of oil consumed. _____
6 Economic growth without water. _____
7 The method used to produce fresh water. _____
8 Using solar power to create energy to produce fresh water. _____
9 Farmers will give water to the animals so they can supply us with food. _____
10 Legislation is the key to making Qatar’s future sustainability possible. _____

The big idea

4 Work in groups. Discuss the questions.
1 Because Qatar has no water, do you think they will be able to maintain their current way of life
for the next ten years?
2 Fahad Al-Attiya believes the solution to the risks attached to Qatar’s future sustainability is
through solar energy. Do you believe solar energy is an effective form of renewable energy?
Why? / Why not?
3 It would require a huge number of solar systems to desalinate enough water to feed the
population of Qatar. Do you think this is possible?
4 Were you persuaded by Fahad Al-Attiya’s talk? Why? / Why not?

Language focus – turning oil into water

5 Complete the sentences with these words. Then watch the TED Talk again from 0.11–5.05 and
check your answers.
consumption era lack litres liveable precipitation pumps
resources secure tonnes wiped

1 Fahad Al-Attiya’s responsibility over the next two years is to make Qatar’s food
_______________ .
2 The problem wasn’t that they were unable to develop cities. It was because the
_______________ didn’t exist.
3 In 1939 a great discovery was made which would bring huge change to Qatar. Fahad calls this
period the oil _______________ .
4 Water _______________ in Qatar has risen to 430 _______________and is now one of the
highest in the world. Fahad Al-Attiya thinks this response is maybe because of Qatar’s history as a
country with a _______________ of water.
5 Because of a shortage of water, cities were totally _______________ out. However, people were
convinced that Qatar was a _______________ space even though it hadn’t been.
6 In terms of _______________ of rain, Brazil has 1,782 millimetres per year, Qatar has 74.
7 Qatar _______________ oil out of the ground and burns _______________ of it to create energy
to power a desalination plant.

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A country with no water

Sustainability
6 Watch a part (5.12–8.25) of the TED Talk again. Complete the sentences. Use one word in each
space.
1 The risks for Qatar are that the world has a growing _______________ for food and declining
_______________ , which means Qatar needs to be aware of when the _______________ is
going to happen.
2 Qatar has only two days of water _______________ , imports 90% of its food and
_______________ under 1% of its land.
3 In the future, Qatar will _______________ risks, but Fahad Al-Attiya believes there is a
_______________ solution. The solution may not be in using _______________ energy or
_______________ fuels, but in using _______________ energy to produce the water required.
4 Qatar will install 1,800 megawatts of ______________ systems to create 3.5 million
_______________ metres of water.

Speaking
7 Work in groups. You come from a country which has little natural water and you use
desalination to produce fresh water. You are attending a global climate change conference on
behalf of your government. During discussions with other countries’ government
representatives, these statements were made. Discuss them and think of some realistic
answers to respond with.
1 Relying on oil as energy to power a desalination plant is harmful to the environment. It causes
serious air, water and land pollution.
2 Solar energy is a much cleaner way of generating energy than fossil fuels. However, the
production of solar energy materials requires the use of chemicals that give off greenhouse gases
and also create waste. These problems could make solar energy less effective in the fight against
climate change.
3 Desalination on a huge scale causes serious damage to marine life. The process of moving water
from the sea to a machine plant kills fish and organisms that are fundamental to the sustainability
of the marine food chain.

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