JEDDAH: The Presidency of Meteorology & Environment (PME) President Prince Turki bin Nasser said that protection of environment and ensuring its sustainability is the collective responsibility of the global community. “The entire world is preoccupied with tackling environmental issues. This shows the seriousness of challenges facing the global community because of the growing risks to the environment,” he said while delivering his presidential speech at the 5th conference of environment ministers from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member countries in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan, yesterday.
Prince Turki, who is also the chairman of the executive office of the OIC environment ministers, drew attention to the responsibility of the international community for taking measures to protect the environment.
“These are heavy responsibilities that cannot be borne by a single country or organization. Instead, all the countries and organizations should take up the responsibility of preventing environment pollution to ease pressures of climatic change,” he said.
Prince Turki said the conference would finalize the draft declaration on sustainable development, which will then be presented at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio +20), to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on June 20-22.
The two-day conference is discussing a host of other issues related to environment and sustainable growth in the Islamic countries.
Prince Turki said the Astana conference is based on the guidelines of the Tunis Declaration adopted by the 4th Islamic Conference of Environment Ministers held in Tunis in October 2010. The declaration also called for strengthening sustainable development in the Islamic world in a way that can ensure the protection of environment.
The conference would review the progress and achievements made by the OIC member countries on major environment issues related to sustainable development since the last global summit on sustainable development held in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002. It will also discuss the report of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) about its efforts to achieve sustainable development in the OIC member countries during the past 10 years.
Ministers of environment from 57 OIC member countries, in addition to representatives of several international and regional organizations and panels are taking part in the conference. These organizations include the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Arab League, Islamic Development Bank, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), North Africa Office of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission, Muhammad VI Foundation for Environment Protection, and Center for Environment and Development for the Arab Region and Europe (CEDARE).
