The Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME) in Saudi Arabia announced in a statement that it recently held several meetings with the Ministry of Interior proposing a plan to create an environmental police unit to enforce the Kingdom’s environmental law by implementing an environmental inspection program.

 

According to this program, environmental inspectors are aided with state-of-the-art equipment which measures pollution inside facilities.

 

Inspection teams monitor violations and follow up on complaints lodged by citizens, as well as issuing reports and enforcing penalties. The spokesman said that penalties are applied in accordance with Saudi environmental laws and range from financial punishment to closing down facilities.

 

According to the proposed plan, the environmental police will be divided into two sections, one for monitoring environmental violations and investigating perpetrators, while the second arm will be dedicated toward ensuring the law is enforced.

 

Prince Bandar bin Saud, president of the Saudi Wildlife Authority (SWA), had highlighted on an earlier occasion that the SWA had suggested the establishment of such a body eight years ago.