The Kuwait Environment Protection Society called for greater cooperation between government agencies, civil society organizations, volunteer groups, and individuals to protect biodiversity in the country. It also stressed the importance of citizens and residents playing their part in preserving Kuwait's wildlife, habitats, and environmentally sensitive sites. Dr. Samira Sayed Omar, founder and first chair of the Wildlife Protection Committee at the Kuwait Environment Protection Society, noted that "the Society joins the world today in celebrating the International Day for Biological Diversity, striving to raise awareness of nature issues." She pointed out that this year's celebration is themed "Action Locally for Global Impact," aiming to link individual and community initiatives with global goals for protecting ecosystems and halting biodiversity loss.
In this context, Dr. Samira Sayed Omar explained that “the Environment Protection Society has gone far for decades in calling for the protection of the elements and components of biodiversity and wildlife through many executive and awareness programs and projects for many of its specialized committees and teams, perhaps the most prominent of which is the Wildlife Protection Committee, which was established in 1994 and includes a distinguished elite of experts and national cadres, in addition to launching 8 editions of its annual program, “The Documentary Programs Series on Wildlife in Kuwait.”.
She stated that “the Society’s efforts continued through its membership in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the formation of the IUCN National Standing Committee in Kuwait, which the Society currently chairs.” She noted that “the Committee’s most important role is to coordinate national efforts among relevant and competent authorities in the field of biodiversity protection and conservation.” Dr. Omar explained that “the Committee, which includes representatives from member organizations, discusses several related matters, most importantly preparations for regional nature conservation forums, in addition to key preparations for the upcoming IUCN Congress meetings.” She added that “the Committee includes representatives from the Environment Public Authority, the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, the Kuwait Environment Protection Society, and the Kuwait Water Association.”.
Dr. Samira Sayed Omar explained that “the latest of her efforts in this regard is that there are several proposals submitted by the head of the National Committee of the Union in Kuwait, Dr. Wijdan Aloqab, to the President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Dr. Razan Mubarak, and to 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.”.
She noted that “the association, in the same context, agreed with the League of Arab States to present a series of documentary programs on wildlife in Kuwait through its window concerned with the environment, in addition to the distinguished international cooperation with the International Union for Conservation of Nature, through which it provides it with periodic status reports on national community efforts made in the field of wildlife and biodiversity.”.
In addition to “the launch of the series of documentary programs on wildlife, highlighting the components of the living environment such as plants, wild and marine animals in no less than 250 high-quality television episodes from the local scope to be a beacon of the importance of environmental media highlighting biodiversity in our country, which is nothing but evidence of the success of such endeavors, especially after it won many international awards, in addition to its adoption by the Ministry of Education as a scientific resource supporting the curriculum, and finally the Arab League’s welcome of its presence and its inclusion on the Arab League Observatory.”.
