By NNN-WAM
Abu Dhabi : General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the UAE Armed Forces, received Sunday a delegation from the World Conservation Union (IUCN) led by its director general Julia Marton-Lefevre. She was accompanied by top leaders and experts of groups and committees.
The meeting came ahead of the UAE hosting of the Species Survival Commission (SSC) in Al Ain from February 11 to 14.
The IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) is a science-based network of some 7,000 volunteer experts from almost every country of the world, all working together towards achieving the vision of ?A world that values and conserves present levels of biodiversity.
Sheikh Mohammed briefed the visiting delegation about the UAE’s efforts towards protection and conservation of the environment.
He told them that the UAE has seen tremendous transformations and modernisation towards the better in all walks of life but its principled policies ”are still deep-rooted and inspired by the legacy of the late founding father of the UAE Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
Sheikh Zayed, he affirmed, protected the environment for the benefit of the next generations and his passion towards ecological diversity and sustainability constituted an established policy in chalking plans which ”guide us now in building Abu Dhabi”.
He affirmed that President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has set environment protection as one of the key goals of his development policies and lent substantial support for coordination and cooperation with international organisations on top of which is the United Nations Environment Programme.
According to him, the President has issued a raft of federal laws to empower the Federal Environment Agency in its drive to protect and develop the environment.
”If ecological concerns occupy today a top priority at the international agenda, maintaining and conserving a health, clean and sustainable environment has been the foremost of our preoccupation for the elapsed decades and we will remain committed to further refining and developing this policy,” Sheikh Mohammed told his guests of the world’s top environmentalists.
The IUCN chief paid tribute to the UAE for hosting the SSC meetings and praised its leading role in the development and conservation of environment and nature. She said the UAE’s model has earned it respect and admiration from international environmental conservation organisations.
She acquainted Sheikh Mohammed with the message and mission of the IUCN which is based in Switzerland. The World Conservation Union,the world’s largest and most important conservation network, brings together 83 States, 110 government agencies, more than 800 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and some 10,000 scientists and experts from 181 countries in a unique worldwide partnership.
The Union’s mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable.
The World Conservation Union is a multicultural, multilingual organization with 1100 staff located in 40 countries.