Akissa Bahri (Akiça Bahri) is a Tunisian agricultural engineer, a former professor at the National Agricultural Institute of Tunisia, and the current Agriculture Minister of Tunisia.[1] She has previously been Director for Africa at the International Water Management Institute (2005–2010), Coordinator of the African Water Facility at the African Development Bank (2010–2015), and Director of Research at the National Research Institute for Agricultural Engineering, Water, and Forestry (INRGREF) in Tunis, Tunisia (2016–2017).[2][3][4]
Life
editAkissa Bahri attended primary school at Lycée de Jeunes Filles Armand Fallieres in Tunis and high school at Lycée Carnot, Tunis. She studied agricultural engineering in Toulouse, gained an engineering doctorate from the National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse, and then gained a Ph.D. in Water Resources Engineering from Lund University, with a thesis entitled Environmental impacts of marginal waters and sewage sludge use in Tunisia.[5][4]
Bahri's research focuses on water quality and water use efficiency, especially in Tunisia; her publications include Managing the other side of the water cycle: Making wastewater an asset published by the Global Water Partnership Technical Committee.[6]
She has conducted research on irrigation systems and degradation of soil resources. She came up with solutions to provide farmers and rural development offices with methodologies for monitoring soil. [7]
As of 2019 Bahri is on the Board of Trustees of the JRS Biodiversity Foundation[2] and a member of the International Advisory Committee of the UNU-Institute on Water, Health and Environment. Bahri is also a member of the Governing Council of the African Academy of Sciences, and the Human Rights & Science Advisory Board.[4]
On 2 September 2020, Bahri became the Agriculture Minister of Tunisia.[8][9]
Awards
editIn 1993 Bahri was awarded the IFS/King Baudouin Award by the International Foundation for Science.[10] In 2009 she was awarded the "Prof. C.N.R. Rao Prize for Scientific Research" by the World Academy of Sciences, for the Advancement of Science in Developing Countries.[11]
In 2018 Bahri won the International Water Association 'Women in Water' award, for her "outstanding life-time professional contribution to the international water sector in work, projects and research".[12][13]
Notable works
edit- 'Managing Change to Implement Integrated Urban Water Management in African Cities', Aquatic Procedia (6), 2016. A. Bahri, F. Brikke, and K. Vairavamoorthy.[14]
- Milestones in Water Reuse – The best success stories. Edited by Valentina Lazarova, Takashi Asano, Akissa Bahri and John Anderson, 2013.[15]
- Wastewater irrigation and health: assessing and mitigating risk in low-income countries. Edited by Pay Drechsel, Christopher A. Scott, Liqa Raschid-Sally, Mark Redwood, and Akissa Bahri, 2010.[16]
- Water Reuse for Irrigation: Agriculture, Landscapes, and Turf Grass. Edited by Valentina Lazarova and Akissa Bahri, 2005.[17]
References
edit- ^ Network of African Science Academies, Women In Science: Inspiring Stories from Africa Archived 28 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine, 2016, p.4
- ^ a b "Welcome Akiça Bahri and Guy Midgley to the JRS Biodiversity Foundation Board of Trustees". JRS Biodiversity Foundation. 14 January 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ "Akissa Bahri". International Water Association. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ a b c "Curriculum Vitae, Akissa Bahri" (PDF). twas.org. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ Akissa Bahri: Biography
- ^ Bahri, Akissa (5 December 2015). "Managing the other side of the water cycle: Making wastewater an asset".
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Bouksila, Fethi; Bahri, Akissa; Berndtsson, Ronny; Persson, Magnus; Rozema, Jelte; Van der Zee, Sjoerd E. A. T. M. (1 August 2013). "Assessment of soil salinization risks under irrigation with brackish water in semiarid Tunisia". Environmental and Experimental Botany. Sustainable cultivation and exploitation of halophyte crops in a salinizing world. 92: 176–185. Bibcode:2013EnvEB..92..176B. doi:10.1016/j.envexpbot.2012.06.002. ISSN 0098-8472.
- ^ "Tunisia: Mechichi Government Lineup – 28 Members Including 8 Women". AllAfrica. 25 August 2020.
- ^ "Tunisia's parliament votes on new prime minister amid crisis". San Francisco Chronicle. 1 September 2020. Archived from the original on 16 September 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
- ^ "IFS – International Foundation for Science – The IFS/King Baudouin Award". www.ifs.se. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ "TWAS-C.N.R. Rao Award for Scientific Research". TWAS. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ Luchell Feukung, In 2023 Bahri won the World Academy of Sciences Gold Medal. Tunisia: Researcher Akiss Bahri wins IWA Prize of "Women in Water", Afric 21, 19 September 2018.
- ^ "2018 IWA Women in Water Award: Professor Akissa Bahri". International Water Association. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ Bahri; Brikké, F.; Vairavamoorthy, K. (1 August 2016). "Managing Change to Implement Integrated Urban Water Management in African Cities". Aquatic Procedia. At the Confluence 2015 – selection from the 2015 World Water Week in Stockholm. 6: 3–14. Bibcode:2016AqPro...6....3B. doi:10.1016/j.aqpro.2016.06.002. ISSN 2214-241X.
- ^ Lazarova, Valentina; Asano, Takashi; Bahri, Akiça; Anderson, John, eds. (2013). Milestones in Water Reuse: The Best Success Stories | eBooks Gateway | IWA Publishing. IWA. doi:10.2166/9781780400716. ISBN 9781780400716. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
{{cite book}}:|website=ignored (help) - ^ "Wastewater Irrigation and Health: Assessing and Mitigating Risk in Low-income Countries | IDRC – International Development Research Centre". www.idrc.ca. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ "Water Reuse for Irrigation: Agriculture, Landscapes, and Turf Grass". CRC Press. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ Bouksila, Fethi; Bahri, Akissa; Berndtsson, Ronny; Persson, Magnus; Rozema, Jelte; Van der Zee, Sjoerd E. A. T. M. (1 August 2013). "Assessment of soil salinization risks under irrigation with brackish water in semiarid Tunisia". Environmental and Experimental Botany. Sustainable cultivation and exploitation of halophyte crops in a salinizing world. 92: 176–185. Bibcode:2013EnvEB..92..176B. doi:10.1016/j.envexpbot.2012.06.002. ISSN 0098-8472.