Secretary General of the Regional Organization for Protection of Marine Environment (ROPME) Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Awadhi said Tuesday definition of environment was still unclear in the Gulf and Middle East regions.
Addressing the final session of the Second Gulf Petroleum Forum 2014, Al-Awadhi called on Gulf oil companies to realize the importance of environmental pollution and to seriously consider the vitality of environment in oil industry.
He called for banning entry of oil tankers to the Arabian Gulf area because they were destroying the environment. "We have to extend pipelines carrying oil to outside the region," he suggested.
Al-Awadhi said regional oil producing countries should develop environmental-friendly industries.
"The Arbian Gulf is like a closed lake and the spread of nuclear power stations near the area increases the environmental pressure on it," he said.
Meanwhile, Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) Secretary General Najib Saab said the regional countries should develop their technologies in the midst of climate change.
He said the climate change would further deteriorate the water problem in the Arab region, where water consumption per person was the world's highest.
Saab said water consumption per person in Kuwait was 580 liters per day against 300 liters in Britain.
If the current energy consumption continued at the same rate, he said, then most of the Gulf countries would be forced to use all of its oil production to desalinate water and would be incapable of exporting it.
|