14th meeting of GCC officials on wildlife protection kicks off

KUWAIT, Dec 22 (KUNA) -- The 14th meeting of the Standing Committee tasked with preservance of wildlife and natural habitats in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) kicked off here on Monday at the senior officials level.
Mohammad Al-Enezi, Deputy Director General for the Environment Public Authority, said in his speech that the Gulf Convention on wildlife plays an important role in preserving the natural heritage of the area, adding that the proposals submitted to the agenda of the meeting, such as the new organizational structure of the Convention and the Advisory Committee will have a significant impact on the development of the mechanisms of action and give multiple scientific alternatives for decision makers.
He added that the environmental police proposal included on the agenda came at an appropriate timing, where the State of Kuwait will work on formulating a practical approach to such proposal.
He added that the Authority is preparing to embark on the development of the executive bylaw of the Environmental Protection Act No. 42 of 2014 which obliges forming an environmental police.
He explained that the environmental police will contribute to improving the quality of the environment through the effective application of the laws and give more support for environmental issues, noting that the celebration of the first wildlife day on September 30 every year gives further attention for the conservation of nature and biodiversity.
For his part, Assistant Secretary General for human affairs and the environment at the Secretariat General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Dr. Abdullah bin Oqla Al-Hashem in his speech thanked the State of Kuwait for hosting the meeting, which is a quantum leap in the work of the GCC Convention, where many proposals from Member States have been gathered.
Al-Hashem said that a proposal on raising awareness of wildlife by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was submitted in addition to another submitted by Kuwait on illicit cheetah trafficking.
He pointed to the proposal of Bahrain to establish a workshop on the preparation of the consolidated regional regime on access to genetic resources as well as follow-up to the passage of falcons between the GCC countries. (end) mf.tg