Dr. Wajdan Al-Aqab, Head of the National Committee of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Kuwait and President of the Kuwait Environment Protection Society, confirmed that “her invitation to meet in the Jordanian capital, Amman, with Dr. Razan Mubarak, President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and Dr. Hani Al-Shaer, Regional Director of the Union for West Asia, was to discuss the importance of marketing and highlighting the work and achievements of the Union’s members, especially in the West Asia region.”.
She confirmed that “as part of her ongoing efforts to promote regional environmental cooperation, Ms. Razan Al Mubarak, President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), paid an official visit to the Union’s West Asia Regional Office, where she met with a number of Union members in the region, in addition to the heads and representatives of national committees.”.
During the visit, Al-Mubarak expressed her appreciation for the vital role played by the office in supporting environmental work in West Asian countries, and stressed the importance of coordination and integration among environmental institutions to address the growing challenges facing the region, such as desertification, water scarcity, and loss of biodiversity.
Dr. Al-Aqab stated that “the meeting, which was also attended by Engineer Yousef Al-Ramzi, the official spokesperson and Vice President of the Environmental Engineers Team at the Association, reviewed the activities of the national committees and their preparations for the Union Congress meeting during next October,” adding: “We discussed an aspect of the committee’s activities at the local level, including the joint cooperation between the committee members representing the relevant authorities in Kuwait, to celebrate the International Day for Biological Diversity, which was held under the auspices of the Environment Public Authority and the Kuwait Oil Tankers Company, where the roles of those authorities included in the committee membership were reviewed.”.
She pointed to the statement by the Regional Director of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (West Asia) that “the National Committees of the International Union for Conservation of Nature play a pivotal role in linking global goals with local needs in member countries, by uniting the efforts of members from different sectors. Activating the Regional Committee is a strategic step to enhance cooperation between countries, exchange experiences, build capacities, and unify positions to address common environmental challenges.”.
Al-Aqab concluded that one of the most important outcomes of the meeting was related to the tasks of the national committees, and explained: “There are several proposals that were presented by the head of the National Committee of the Union in Kuwait to Dr. Razan Mubarak, President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and Dr. Hani Al-Shaer, the Regional Director of the Union for West Asia, including: establishing a basic system for the national committees, and this task falls on the head of each committee, designing an internal regulation that organizes work within the committee, and attracting new groups and members to the national committees. The proposal was well received by the officials present because of its positive impact on improving the performance of the national committees in an organizational step.
