Despite stepped up criticism of the Kingdom's environmental record from the international media mill, the Kingdom has many times proved its sincere efforts to protect its environment and to even call for global awareness of environment protection. Since the second Gulf War, the environmental damage inflicted upon the Kingdom has been huge. Prince Turki Bin Nasir Bin Abdulaziz, chairman of the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME), was reportedly quoted as saying “The environmental damage happened as a result of burning hundreds of oil wells, and dumping millions of crude oil barrels in the waters of the Arabian Gulf. This led to the pollution of Saudi shores, in a way that made it the worst case of pollution witnessed in the world.” Ever since the Kingdom has been picking up steam to fight environmental woes by looking for the most plausible solutions derived from international gatherings. Saudi Arabia is scheduled to host a major 3-day Arab-International environmental conference in July this year. The conference is set up to discuss and review the national environmental policies and explore possibilities for establishing a police force tasked with looking into environmental cases. The conference, organized the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME), is also scheduled to discuss a proposal of school of environment law to produce judges who would rule in environmental cases referred to them by the proposed environmental police. Prince Turki said the First Arab International Conference and Exhibition on Environmental Legislation (AICEEL) will be patronized by Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz on July 5. “The efficiency of current legislations will be reviewed for a more effective preservation of environment in the Kingdom,” he said. Environmental experts from Saudi Arabia, the Arab world, and other countries have been invited to submit their papers for the conference, he added. The conference will also review regional and international legislations on environment. But the conference has been scheduled with a vision to come up with a unified environmental policy across the Arab world, Prince Turki said. Hope has been pinned on the environmental experts to provide plausible suggestions for establishing environmental courts and a specialized police force in the Kingdom, said Dr. Abdulaziz Abuzenada, former secretary-general of National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development (NCWCD) and chairman of the conference. It would be important for the Kingdom to have specialized environmental courts and a police force for effective environment law enforcement. The Kingdom has about 500 rangers, who function like environment police officers at the protected wildlife areas in the Kingdom, he said. But the number is much less than expected to enforce environment law, he said. At least 10,000-20,000 environment force is needed to monitor and protect the country's marine life and wildlife, Abuzenada said. The deadline for abstract submissions is set for May 30, and full research papers by June 24. Representatives from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and a large number of representatives from environment ministries and commissions, Arab organizations and experts are expected to participate in the forthcoming conference. An environmental tech policy exhibition will also be organized on the sideline of the conference. University specialists in related disciplines, environment research centers, and national and regional environment industry will participate in the exhibition. Prince Turki reportedly said “There still are more than 8 million cubic meters of sand polluted with visible oil, whose impact has extended to large numbers of sea creatures. It is expected that the impact of this pollution will continue for more than 100 years unless it is treated. The losses suffered by the Kingdom as a result of this pollution are estimated at more than 28 billion dollars.” __
