Jeddah: Minister of Local Development and Acting Minister of Environment, Dr. Manal Awad, affirmed that the Middle East Green Initiative is a shared environmental platform that enhances regional cooperation to address the urgent need to preserve ecosystems and restore degraded ones.
According to State Information Service Egypt, Dr. Awad highlighted the most prominent climate challenges facing the region and the importance of combating desertification, rehabilitating lands, and restoring various ecosystems, particularly in areas highly sensitive to desertification and drought, such as the Arab region and the Middle East.
This statement was made during Dr. Manal Awad's address at the second meeting of the Ministerial Council of the Middle East Green Initiative, held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The meeting was chaired by His Excellency Engineer Abdulrahman bin Abdulmohsen Al-Fadhli, Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with the participation of the 35 member states of the Ministerial Council.
Dr. Awad also expressed her gratitude to Minister of Environment, Agriculture, and Water, Engineer Abdulrahman bin Abdulmohsen Al-Fadhli, for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's efforts in advancing joint environmental action at all regional and global levels. This has strengthened cooperation and raised global climate aspirations through collaborative work to address the environmental and climate challenges facing the region and the world at large.
Dr. Manal Awad emphasized that Egypt's efforts in restoring ecosystems and combating desertification have paved the way in all regional and international forums for linking global environmental issues. This has placed halting land degradation and desertification at the heart of the development process and the response to environmental challenges. Egypt was a pioneer in this regard, particularly during its hosting of the 2018 UN Biodiversity Conference (COP14), by designing an initiative to link climate change, biodiversity, and desertification agreements. These initiatives were launched to drive sustainable development on Earth.