The Kuwaiti Society for Environmental Protection organized a campaign to clean the Kuwait Towers Beach Park, in cooperation with the Japanese Embassy, the Japanese Society in Kuwait, the Environment Public Authority and the Scientific Center, as part of the «Sea Turtles» campaign, with wide participation from school students, government agencies and volunteers.
The Secretary-General of the Kuwaiti Society for Environmental Protection, Jenan Behzad, said that the campaign came to spread awareness and correct environmental culture among all segments and sectors of society and to emphasize that protecting the environment is a shared societal responsibility and trust, indicating that the number of participants in the campaign reached about one thousand male and female volunteers.
She added that the association celebrated its golden jubilee this year, marking 50 years since its founding in 1974, while the «Sea Turtles» campaign reached its silver jubilee, marking 25 years since its launch, with the number of participants in all past seasons exceeding 10,000 individuals and more than 3,000 students from the association’s Green Schools program, in addition to hundreds of entities, organizations, groups and initiators.
Janan Behzad praised the Tourism Projects Company for their commitment to communicating and responding to the association's request regarding the event, noting the role and participation of the Scientific Center in releasing two turtles into the waters of the Gulf.
She explained that Kuwait has made efforts to protect sea turtles from the risk of extinction, and that turtles were released on the beach and then into the waters of the Arabian Gulf, noting that the challenges facing turtles are plastic pollution, urban expansion, ghost fishing, and human activities that negatively affect them and limit their presence and reproduction.
She stated that sea turtles play a vital role in maintaining the health of the marine environment, as they help to reduce excessive seaweed growth, maintain the ecological balance of coral reefs, and contribute to marine biodiversity in Kuwait and the sustainability of marine ecosystems.
For his part, Dr. Abdullah Al-Zaidan, Deputy Director General of the Environment Public Authority, commended the efforts of the Japanese Embassy in Kuwait and the Japan Society in Kuwait for their participation in the annual beach cleanup campaign, "Operation Turtle," and their commitment to social responsibility. He also praised their efforts in engaging state institutions and community members to promote environmental awareness and the importance of protecting the environment and its natural resources in Kuwait. He emphasized the Authority's commitment to participating in these events with the Japanese Embassy, the Scientific Center, the Kuwait Environment Protection Society, and various state institutions to raise environmental awareness, promote sustainable development, and ensure a healthy and sustainable environment for future generations.
He explained that individual, community and institutional cooperation would contribute to developing the best sustainable environmental solutions in light of the impact of global climate changes to preserve marine biodiversity in Kuwait to achieve a better and more sustainable future.
He stated that this initiative comes in pursuit of environmental sustainability and the preservation of natural resources, in line with achieving the goals of Kuwait’s Sustainable Development Plan and the United Nations program, and implementing commitments under international agreements in the areas of environmental conservation and protection and biodiversity.
For his part, the Chargé d'Affaires at the Embassy of Japan in the State of Kuwait, Kaneko Koji, said that the campaign aims to preserve the environment and public cleanliness, and that participation in it was weak when it started in 2000, but the spread of environmental awareness contributed to raising the number of participants in the campaign from different groups, categories and entities.
Koji thanked the participants in the 25th edition of «Sea Turtles», stressing the importance of cooperation with the Scientific Center in releasing the recovered turtles and returning them to their natural environment on the beach, in addition to cooperating with the Public Authority for the Environment and the Kuwaiti Society for Environmental Protection in these campaigns, praising the Society’s organization of the event and the mobilization for it.
For her part, Sarah Al-Yaqout, Director of Marketing and Communications at the Scientific Center, said that a number of sea turtles were released today after being rescued and rehabilitated and returned to their natural habitats, noting that Kuwaiti waters contain several types of turtles, all of which are protected by law and are considered endangered, with the most common type being the green turtle.
She explained that last year the center installed tracking devices on the turtles to understand their behavior and migration patterns, as it was found that the turtles migrate south in the winter and return in the summer, and some of them travel south and do not return for more than a year, while others stay near the borders.
