In celebration of the 51st anniversary of the founding of the Kuwait Environment Protection Society, which falls on March 31, Dr. Wajdan Al-Aqab, Chairperson of the Board of Directors, affirmed that continuing to launch a series of programs and events this year comes in light of facing challenges and obstacles “spatial, represented by the lack of a permanent headquarters, as well as the significant financial shortfall that limits and hinders much of the achievement of qualitative and specialized activities.”.
Dr. explained. Wajdan Al-Aqab: “Following the Stockholm Conference of 1974, which included in its outcomes and recommendations urging governments to pay attention to and establish environmental civil organizations, to be a support and partner to them in developing strategies and implementing plans and programs, and to create an atmosphere within societies for environmental participation at the individual and group levels, including all age groups and genders, and in an early societal environmental awareness, an elite group of Kuwaitis took on this national task, and in the same year established the Kuwait Environment Protection Society, that civil organization that undertakes this task with multiple goals, starting with qualifying and preparing national cadres to go out in all parts of the State of Kuwait, to plant educational and awareness-raising seedlings about the country’s natural resources and environmental habitats, on the condition that it would take care of, water and nurture those seedlings, in parallel with spreading the concepts related to this societal awareness entity, which may have been new to the ears of many at that time, namely, “environmental activity and what it includes of efforts and activities at all local levels.”.
She added: “The association emerged into the light, shining brightly, to take on and assume leadership and community pioneering in this regard, fueled by the distinguished experiences of the elite founders and leaders throughout its brilliant journey, and what it included of a scientific constellation consisting of ministers, directors-general, academics, environmental activists, and a blessed gathering that left their mark on its journey, all of them carrying an environmental torch. These experiences blended and those torches intertwined, so they presented to their country this Kuwaiti pride inside and outside the country, exceeding its local and regional boundaries to reach its global status, so its plants became towering.”.
Al-Aqab continued, saying, “Here is the association in the embrace of the “Golden Jubilee,“ 51 years since its establishment. Here are 51 shining candles on the forehead of Kuwaiti community giving, aware and cognizant of its roles, interacting with its programs and believing in its missions. Between 1974 and 2025, the association appears as a towering environmental fortress with its achievements on more than one level, and a training, awareness and educational edifice whose construction has branched out into many edifices and buildings. The observer and contemplator of the association’s historical record sees with the simplest understanding the size and multiplicity of the challenges and difficulties, perhaps the most prominent of which is the ”headquarters challenge,“ alongside the ”financial support challenge.’”.
The head of the Environment Society noted, “Based on the Society’s current situation over the past 51 years, we find that it has been plagued by two challenges: headquarters and financial support. These are two thorns in the side of the Society’s progress, its existence, and its continuity. Regarding the challenge of the headquarters, the Society was in a permanent headquarters in the Shuwaikh North area for all those years, and it was vacated for the benefit of the State Property Administration about 8 years ago. It currently occupies another temporary headquarters that has provided protection for the Society’s historical and cultural heritage. Its limited space and capabilities make it suitable for administrative work and provide storage for that heritage. However, it has created and left behind new challenges, the first of which is the geographical distance, which has led to some people refraining from communicating and being present at the Society, and the second is the lack of space for activities and events. To solve this obstacle, the Society resorted to concluding several cooperation agreements with governmental and civil entities to utilize some of their facilities in conjunction with joint activities and events, in order to ensure communication and presence of its general assembly members and visitors from among the youth, students, those interested, and those with environmental expertise.“.
In the same context, Dr. Wajdan Al-Aqab points out: “The challenge of financial support and aid leads to successive challenges, including the challenge of continuing activities and programs and providing their financial cost, and the challenge of limited technical and functional staff due to weak budgets and financial allocations. This, in turn, joins the previous challenges in one way or another. Therefore, we can describe the association’s situation with these circumstances, challenges, and difficulties as if the association is between the “hammer of the headquarters and the anvil of financial support,” and indeed it is.“.
At the conclusion of Kuwait’s celebration marking more than half a century since the establishment of one of the oldest and most prestigious environmental associations in the Arab world, Al-Aqab appealed for the lights of giving and support, which would illuminate the future of voluntary environmental work in Kuwait, the Gulf and the Arab world, not to dim.
In conclusion, the Board of Directors of the Kuwait Environment Protection Society appeals to His Highness the Prime Minister, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah, Her Excellency the Minister of Social Affairs, Dr. Amthal Al-Huwayla, and His Excellency the Minister of Education, Dr. Jalal Al-Tabtabai, to provide a headquarters that is commensurate with the Society’s aspirations, achievements, and future strategy, enabling it to fully utilize its capabilities and plans to serve this community. This headquarters would allow the Society to implement a training and practical strategy for future programs and activities, and to reconsider and assist it in overcoming the challenge of financial support. The Board emphasizes that the Society’s activities are always at the forefront of measurable service across all dimensions of environmental work and endeavor, whether executive or community-based.
