Students working on a video on tomato farming for the e-book.
DOHA: An e-book investigating challenges Qatar faces in ensuring food and water security for its people has been published by students of Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois, and their counterparts here.
The book explores how Qatar, which imports over 90 percent of its food, can become more self-sufficient and sustainable in sourcing food supplies for its growing population.
The five-chapter e-book is available at iTunes store.
It also discusses about water scarcity, augmented by audio, video and photo slide shows.
According to a report, water-intensive projects such as large-scale construction has put Qatar among the largest consumers of water. Yet, without desalinisation, it possesses a fresh water supply that would last only 48 hours.
“The critical questions about water security the young journalists raise and answer in this e-book is a testament to the power of collaboration and exchange between peers from vastly different backgrounds,” said Dean and CEO of NU-Q, Dr Everette Dennis.
“These kinds of exchanges are an important part of being a student at a branch campus of a leading school like Northwestern because they allow students from both schools the chance to broaden their perspectives, learn from one another, and produce a large-scale journalism project together,” Dr Dennis added.
Eight graduate students from Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, travelled to Doha to work with five NU-Q journalism students on the report.
After forming four groups of combined Doha and Evanston students, the aspiring journalists were dispersed to locations across Qatar to research and build their reports.
Three groups focused on the production and consumption of tomatoes because of its dependence on large quantities of water and its importance to local cuisine.
NU-Q Assistant Professor Andrew Mills, who led the project with Richard Roth, Senior Associate Dean in Qatar and professors Bill Handy and Phil Duff at the US campus, noted that the project in Qatar has served as an effective stepping stone for US students to understand the Middle East better.
The Peninsula
