By NNN-KUNA
Riyadh : GCC member states are staging their first joint environment protection week under the theme “Our Shores and Sustained Development” with a view to highlighting environmental protection awareness and pointing to the most important environmental issues and problems.
The celebration was decided in 2003 during a meeting in Kuwait where officials present decided to stage a week-long celebration every year as a reminder of the importance of environmental protection.
Instructions were then given by cabinet ministers and officials to stage such a week-long celebration every year. But this practice started only in 2007 after a Jeddah meeting of environmental officials.
Meanwhile, GCC secretary-general Abdel-Rahman Al-Attiya delivered an address calling on GCC member states to do more to protect the environment, specifically its three most important constituents — water, air and soil. He called for efforts to ensure that GCC shores are free of oil pollution.
Al-Attiya hoped that the week’s proceedings would pave the way for better understanding of the impact of environment on people’s health.