KUWAIT, March 3 (KUNA) -- Kuwait is leaving no stone unturned to overcome desertification that covers approximately 75 percent of this Gulf country's territories, a senior environment official said here on Tuesday.
Therefore, it is currently seeking to expand nature reserves and enact pieces of legislation and laws in order to protect environment, Environment Public Authority (EPA) Director-General Abdullah Al-Humoud Al-Sabah addressed a workshop on desert ecology rehabilitation at Alliyah Nature Reserve.
Environment protection is of paramount significance so civil society organizations should work with state bodies in order to push forward environment development and ecological rehabilitation, he added.
The EPA chief cited Kuwait's fresh environment law as part of the country's struggle to control desertification, preserve environment and keep the quality of air and subterranean water, thus leading to environmental sustainability.
For his part, Director-General of the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) Naji Al-Mutairi said the KISR is seeking seriously to tackle environment problems at the Alliyah Nature Reserve, 40 km to the north of Kuwait City.
Long decades of gravel exploration and exploitation operations at Alliyah Nature Reserve have wreaked havoc on environment and desert ecology there, he lamented.
In this context, he highly commended governmental plans and executive programs for rehabilitating the 179-km nature reserve and reforming its environment elements, including soil and wildlife.
Noting that such plans are now bearing fruit, the KISR chief said his agency is eager to invite students to attend such significant workshops in a bid to inculcate the culture of environment preservation in their minds. (end) zak.mt