Dr. Wajdan Al-Aqab, Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Kuwait Environment Protection Society, stated that “paying attention to contemporary issues such as the environment, climate change, alternative energy, water scarcity, and the Sustainable Development Goals is not a luxury or a special interest of specialists and those concerned with environmental affairs.” She added that “crises and natural disasters related to these issues directly affect the lives of citizens and residents, which necessitates addressing them in the speeches and electoral programs of candidates, which, unfortunately, we have rarely found a place for them in their speeches.” This came in the context of her message to the National Assembly candidates regarding the absence of environmental issues from their electoral programs.
Dr. Al-Aqab stressed that “those elected to the green seats in the Abdullah Al-Salem Dome should give ample thought to topics related to environmental issues, and should push forward the development of environmental work in Kuwait on more than one level, and that priority should be given to environmental achievement, especially those achievements related to avoiding pollution or environmental risks.”.
She added, “We hope that the members of the next parliament will recognize the importance of environmental rights first, and support civil society organizations by proposing laws that support their activities in serving the community and remove obstacles that would hinder the voluntary movement. The belief of the nation’s representatives in the role of public benefit associations will ensure the success of those associations” efforts in serving the country, by conveying the voice of civil society to the Abdullah Al-Salem Hall in a professional manner that is open to discussion and development.”.
She highlighted the role of the Kuwait Environment Protection Society in reviewing the Environmental Protection Law, which was a clear voluntary civil imprint in changing of the law’s articles, adding 35 new articles and more than 26 definitions, and stressed the importance of utilizing specialized voluntary personnel who work with passion and national sentiment.
She pointed out that “the National Assembly has a major role in protecting the environmental rights of members of society by legislating laws that would preserve such rights. It is necessary to support the activation and implementation of Environmental Protection Law No. 42 of 2014, some of whose provisions were amended by Law No. 99 of 2015, so that the citizen’s environmental rights are guaranteed in not harming the quality of air, water and land. It is necessary to accelerate the pace of the Civil Service Bureau in this direction, by providing job titles that are appropriate to the academic degree and specialization, such as environmental engineering, which has not been detailed in the Civil Service Bureau’s job lists. The Assembly should take it upon itself to obligate the Civil Service Bureau to reconcile the outputs of higher education with the needs of the labor market and develop them at least every 3 years.”.
The head of the Environment Society called for not ignoring the importance of the Environment Committee in the National Assembly, and for it to be an authentic committee, and for its work to develop in order to select some of its members in other committees that have an environmental impact, even if the specialization and purpose of its formation differs, because the environmental opinion is important in many committees due to the impact of the committees” outputs on the environment or the impact of the environment and natural resources on achieving the committees’ outputs of recommendations and decisions.”.
She addressed “a word to the brothers and sisters who are voters, who today bear a great responsibility in determining the representatives who represent all our orientations, and to choose representatives who have a high sense of responsibility towards Kuwait on all levels, so as to ensure the integration of roles, proposals and recommendations,” stressing that environmental issues affect the future life in the country and that paying attention to contemporary issues such as climate change, alternative energy, water scarcity and the Sustainable Development Goals are priorities, as crises and natural disasters related to these axes directly affect the lives of citizens and residents, which necessitates paying attention to them in the speeches of candidates and their electoral programs and that they have a space that is commensurate with their importance on the agenda of the next council.”.
Dr. Wajdan Al-Aqab concluded by emphasizing that “the Kuwaiti environment is facing real difficulties, and the members of the next parliament must be aware of the consequences that the country may face environmentally, and subsequently health-wise and economically, if real and well-thought-out solutions are not put in place for the various tangible and influential environmental issues.”.
