The society revealed the participation of representatives and experts from 24 Arab civil society organizations concerned with disaster risk reduction in its celebration of the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, via a digital “webinar” held via “Zoom” technology. The society organized it under the slogan set by the United Nations Disaster Risk Reduction program this year: “The role of education in protecting and empowering young people for a disaster-free future.” The society confirmed that the celebration extends for a week in more than one Arab country simultaneously.
This was stated by Dr. Wajdan Al-Aqab, President of the Society, who mentioned that the “webinar” came with a large Arab, regional and international participation of about 24 civil organizations and specialized experts, and ended with the submission of recommendations from representatives of the entities on youth empowerment to the League of Arab States from Arab civil society organizations.
Dr. Al-Aqab noted the “webinar” held as part of her celebration of the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, in which 9 heads of Arab civil organizations and a representative of the League of Arab States participated as keynote speakers with lectures and working papers. Naturally, the Palestinian issue was not excluded from their presentations, calls, and proposals. In her lecture, Al-Aqab presented a working paper at the opening of the celebration, addressing 8 themes and proposals for empowering youth and their roles within the framework of the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, namely: “awareness and education, participation in community activities, technological innovation, partnerships with organizations and awareness of the impact of climate change, developing leadership skills, enhancing political participation, and self-education.”.
Dr. Al-Aqab, head of the celebration and a member of the Advisory Group of the Global Network of Civil Society Organizations for Disaster Risk Reduction (GNDR), explained that “the participation of the League of Arab States was supportive of the roles of Arab civil society organizations, as Mr. Mustafa Saadi Al-Jubouri, the official in charge of the Technical Secretariat of the Arab Coordination Mechanism for Disaster Risk Reduction, participated. He reviewed the results of Arab efforts in adopting the Arab Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction in 2018, in addition to approving the Arab Roadmap for implementing the Sendai Framework in the Arab region. He also emphasized in his speech that “there is an Arab political commitment to reducing disaster risks, but it needs further strengthening with means of implementation, especially after the Arab region has achieved a number of accomplishments. It is essential that international and regional cooperation be an essential part of strategies to address natural disasters in Arab countries, with the participation of all civil society organizations through synergy and knowledge exchange. This will enable Arab countries to enhance their ability to effectively face these challenges and preserve the safety of societies and the environment.”.
In the same context, she pointed out that Dr. Emad El-Din Adly, the general coordinator of the Arab Network for the Environment “Raed”, explained in his speech the importance of youth investment in this regard in the fields of awareness and education, while Captain Raed Al-Saleem of the Explosives Department and representative of the Ministry of Interior at the celebration reviewed the government’s experience in the field of “awareness about dealing with the remnants of the brutal invasion”, in direct guidance to members of society, especially young people, to identify their forms and the extent of their danger, to know safety procedures, and to cooperate and join forces to spread awareness, supporting the content with statistics on reports of military ammunition and the great efforts in dealing with it to contain its danger.
Host: “Mariam Al-Ja’ja“, Director General of the Arab Society for the Protection of Nature in Palestine, pointed to the ”impact of Zionist settlement on the environment and Palestinian food security and how to confront it,” noting the importance of setting priorities and correcting misconceptions in the platforms regarding the comprehensive environmental destruction in occupied Palestine, which she called environmental genocide. Meanwhile, Dr. Yanal Al-Ajlouni, President of the Jordanian Relief Society, addressed the impact of the Zionist war on Palestine on the displacement of hundreds of thousands towards Jordan and what this represents in terms of pressure on infrastructure and public health and their demands, in addition to the difficulties they face during their relief movements.
Al-Aqab explained that Dr. Fawzi Al-Khuwari, President of the Kuwaiti Society for Crises and Emergencies, discussed the Society’s field and awareness roles, as well as reviewing its national initiative to build capacity to reduce disaster and emergency risks, “Zahib,” its importance, structure, expected results, target group, and desired goals.
“Engineer Tariq Bin Yassin, President of the Jordanian Friends of Heritage Society, reviewed the impact of social interaction technology with nature on increasing environmental awareness and policymaking among youth,“ which he prepared in cooperation with Engineer Lydia Aliwa from the Egyptian Ministry of Environment. Meanwhile, Engineer Malek Ghandour, President of the Lebanese Environmental Assembly and President of the Amwaj Al-Biaa Society, addressed the environmental disasters resulting from the Israeli war on southern Lebanon and the subsequent displacement operations and their various negative effects.”.
Dr. Wajdan Al-Aqab concluded by emphasizing that the experts participating in the celebration presented views accompanied by executive recommendations to be submitted to the League of Arab States as a contribution of Arab civil society organizations to developing unified Arab policies and mechanisms for dealing with disaster risk reduction.
