Kuwait partakes in International Day for Biological Diversity

KUWAIT, May 21 (KUNA) -- The State of Kuwait shares tomorrow the world's celebrations of International Day for Biological Diversity (IDBD) entitled: "Biodiversity and Sustainable Tourism".
Kuwait's General Authority for Agriculture and Fisheries Affairs (GAAFA) has stressed the importance of protecting biological diversity as it enhances the promotion of tourism.
It said that the abidance by the protection of biological diversity achieves the goals of international conventions.
In a statement to KUNA, deputy director general of GAAFA Ghanem Al-Sanad said "climate change affects negatively biological diversity due to imbalanced components of atmosphere like carbon".
On the logo of the IDBD, he added that tourism is a key productive sector, and enhances biological diversity as environment becomes attractive due to the presence of essential components of wildlife, fungal plant, marine life, water resources and birds, as well as clean air.
The presence of all these components promotes tourism tangibly, and Kuwait seeks to establish several nature reserves for this purpose, he noted.
He referred that the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is an international agreement signed under the auspices of the United Nations that aims at obliging states to protect biodiversity and living creatures in order to sustain life on the Earth.
Al-Sanad affirmed Kuwait's commitment to the provisions of this convention through a number of projects aiming to maintain biodiversity and living creatures.
He pointed to the key role of disseminating awareness of the public on this matter through paying much attention to natural environment components.
He pointed out that GAAFA plays a key role in this regard through cooperation with a number of civil society organizations and schools.
IDBD falls on May 22 every year; it was announced by the United Nations General Assembly in 2000. It aimed to raise awareness on issues of biodiversity. The IDBD coincides with the signing of CBD that took place on May 22, 1992.
The CBD is an international agreement adopted at the Earth Summit, in Rio de Janeiro, in 1992. It has three main objectives: To conserve biological diversity, to use its components in a sustainable way, and to share fairly and equitably the benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.
It was signed by more than 150 government leaders at the Rio Earth Summit. It is now one of the most widely ratified international treaties on environmental issues, with 194 member countries. (end) mf.hm