KUWAIT CITY, Feb 7, (KUNA): A GCC environmental meeting here concluded its functions by underscoring the imperative need to preserve the natural resources in GCC countries and to promote environmental awareness among their general populace, an EPA official told KUNA on Tuesday.
The 13th meeting of the GCC media awareness on environmental issues committee, ending yesterday and spanning three days, had among its recommendations continued consultations on environmental concerns by GCC officials while consecrating efforts on boosting awareness of these concerns among all strata of the population, said EPA (Environment Protection Authority) (EPA) director of public relations Dr Khalid Al-Enizi.
Furthermore, the meeting counseled that GCC environmental agencies glean as much as possible pertinent information on environmental issues from well-established regional, Arab, and international agencies, particularly those which GCC states contribute to their budgets, he said.
He added that the meeting moreover discussed plans proffered by the GCC on increasing green spaces and tree-planting in open areas and within urban regions.
Meanwhile, in an unrelated development, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) organized on Tuesday a workshop on a long-term energy alternatives planning system as part of its focus on the development of its programs to achieve the strategy aimed to produce four million barrels of oil per day, with the strengthening of its role in the environmental field.
KPC, in a press statement, said that the workshop was organized by the department of International Relations and inaugurated by Managing Director of Research, Development, Health, Safety and Environment Bader Al-Khashti in cooperation with the Environment Public Authority (EPA) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) It added that a number of teams specialized in emissions and mitigation actions are taking part in the workshop, prompting the State of Kuwait to join the countries that use this program, a matter which promotes Kuwait’s role in the environmental field at the global level.
It said this workshop complements a previous one that was held last July, stressing the need for the convening of such events as stemming from Kuwait’s commitment as a member of the Framework Convention on Climate Change of the United Nations.