AGU organises seminar on climate change

DT News Network

Manama

The Arabian Gulf University (AGU) in collaboration with the Supreme Council for Environment in the Kingdom of Bahrain, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) organised a one-day seminar titled “Climate Change Accord: The Road from Lima to Paris 2015”here yesterday on the AGU’s campus.

The forum hosted a number of regional and local experts, who discussed the pressing issues within the context of the Climate Change accord that was adopted by the United Nations convention in 1994 and its scope of stabilizing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at acceptable level in a bid to hamper deliberate human intervention in the climate system.

The forum aimed to present the main results of the COP 20 conference, which was held in Lima and Geneva last year, and to identify the desired contributions on Climate Change within the Arab region in terms of climate change impact and measures taken to mitigate it.

The forum looked into discussing the region’s stance with regards to proposed new climate change agreements, in addition to providing research studies, most notably exploring implemented evaluation and adaptation procedures and their weaknesses in the Arab region.

The forum’s objectives aspire to edify Bahrain’s civil and scientific societies, as well as national decision makers through surveying the convention and preparing for the contribution of the participatory countries.

The Resident Representative of the UNDP, Peter Grohmann stressed that the UNDP had a vast experience both regionally and globally in the areas of offering consultations and providing technical expertise through the most effective development practices realized.

“The UNDP has supported many national efforts to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change by shifting to non-polluting, low emission industry techniques and raising awareness on energy conservation and the maintenance of bio-diversity through natural reserves and eco-friendly tourism,” he noted.

“The UNDP continuously strives for supporting the Kingdom’s efforts towards a fruitful implementation of the Kingdom’s government action plan 2015-2018 which was presented by the government and endorsed by the Parliament in January,” said the UNDP’s Deputy Resident Representative, Amin Al- Sharkawi.

He also stressed the importance of aligning the objectives with that of the government action plan especially since the government has been taking important treads towards economic diversification and the enhancement of living standards. “In Bahrain, as is in the other 177 countries, the UNDP constantly resolves to achieve development goals in the interest of the homeland and citizens.”