A Flower Each Spring programme celebrated the World Environment Day by holding an online symposium titled “Celebrating Biological Diversity”, in co-operation with the Kuwaiti Society for Environmental Protection, and with the participation of a large number of experts, activists, researchers, and academics from both countries and a number of sisterly and friendly countries.
This year’s celebration, which fell on June 5, is under the slogan “Biodiversity”. On this occasion, head of the programme Dr Saif bin Ali al-Hajri, stressed that this year’s celebration reflects the world’s interest in the types and species of living creatures in the environment that constitute an integrated, balanced and safe system.
Dr al-Hajri called on world officials, politicians, economists and decision-makers to take more stringent measures to preserve the environment and address the crises of nature and also urged individuals to think about sustainable ways to coexist and change their lifestyles for the better, and urged companies to use environmentally-friendly methods, and governments to preserve wild and wildlife, and factories to follow environmental methods to deal with waste.
He underlined that the issue of the environment is a global one and has a comprehensive impact, so all should be aware of the values of dealing with nature and face its challenges, especially as its issues require great efforts from all specialists, politicians, economists and even individuals.
For her part, Dr Wijdan al-Oqab, Chairperson of Kuwait Environment Protection Society, expressed her happiness at celebrating World Environment Day in co-operation with A Flower Each Spring programme, noting that the slogan “celebrating biological diversity” reflects the interest of the two countries in the various living organisms that live on the planet.
She added that Wildlife were the biggest beneficiaries of the Covid-9 pandemic, as they were monitored in urban places after the third week of the pandemic as a result of human absence, commitment to precautionary measures and presence inside homes.
She highlighted the role of the Kuwait Environment Protection Society in working to improve the performance of institutions operating in her country and its co-operation with governmental, and private sectors in documenting and caring for wildlife in various regions, especially borders, and the importance of this co-operation in preserving wildlife.
She also touched on Kuwait Environment Protection Society’s role in educating society about the biological diversity in Kuwait and introducing local and migratory birds, plants and fish, while highlighting the aesthetics of the environment and living organisms in it, noting the role of the media and civil society institutions in communicating environmental messages to different groups.
Participants in the symposium reviewed a number of international treaties and agreements related to climate change and the protection of the land and marine environment and the commitment of both Qatar and Kuwait, and stressed that the Qatar National Vision 2030 focused on how to manage the environment and its development and the protection and sustainability of biological diversity in a way that does not conflict with economic growth and social development.
They called on the research centres in the Arab world to intensify their efforts in environmental sciences to find viable scientific solutions to environmental challenges in the region in addition to promoting environmental culture among the masses and transferring interest in the environment to the home, classrooms and workplaces. - QNA
