The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development held a workshop today, on October 2nd 2024, entitled “Combatting and Mitigating the Impacts of Cross-Border Sand and Dust Storms Between the State of Kuwait and the Republic of Iraq,” in cooperation with the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). The workshop was attended by representatives from various international, regional, and local organizations and governments involved in environmental and development issues.
The two-day workshop discussed ways to address and mitigate the impacts of sand and dust storms that affect regions along the border between Southern Iraq and Kuwait, as well as methods for monitoring these storms to combat desertification and their negative consequences.
Acting Director-General of the Kuwait Fund, Waleed Shamlan Al-Bahar, said in his opening speech that the Fund, through this workshop and in cooperation with all participating parties and international and regional partners, seeks to strengthen partnerships aimed at raising awareness of the importance of practices that contribute to reducing dust storms and their negative impact on the environment and public health, as well as the huge costs of addressing these impacts on the local economies of affected countries.
Al-Bahar added, “the workshop also aims to raise awareness of the importance of addressing the challenges posed by sand and dust storms through providing technical assistance to reduce these storms, discussing ways to address and mitigate their negative impacts, developing sustainable solutions to deal with sand and dust storms, and early warning systems for these storms in order to combat desertification.”
He affirmed that the Fund firmly believes in the importance of the environment and the urgent need to improve the local environment and apply sustainable environmental practices in all of its projects, noting that the Fund is “financing the implementation of the ‘Improved Resilience against Transboundary Sand and Dust Storms in Kuwait and Southern Iraq’ project in cooperation with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme through a generous grant of KWD 4 million.”
For her part, the British Ambassador to the State of Kuwait, Belinda Lewis, emphasized in a similar speech the importance of cross-border cooperation to combat the impacts of sand and dust storms and the effects of climate change, land degradation, and desertification in general, adding that “bringing people together from different countries and organizations in this workshop is essential to finding the right solutions to address the impacts of dust and sand storms on the environmental, health, and economic levels.”
Lewis pointed out that her government is keen to strengthen its partnerships with various governments, organizations, and international experts, as “it is the only way we can combat this type of challenge,” praising the spirit of cooperation she sensed among the workshop participants, as it is “wonderful to see everyone here gathered together to share their ideas, research, and capabilities to address this environmental challenge.”
For his part, the Iraqi Ambassador to the State of Kuwait, Al-Manhal Al-Safi, said in his speech that the project of Improved Resilience against Transboundary Sand and Dust Storms in Kuwait and Southern Iraq is “an ambitious project aimed at addressing desertification and eliminating the movement of sand dunes that affect movement between the two countries and their economies due to the negative impact resulting from such storms. Therefore, the move by the State of Kuwait, represented by the Kuwait Fund for Development, and the United Kingdom, represented by the British Embassy, in cooperation with the Republic of Iraq, will contribute to achieving the desired goal of reducing and mitigating the negative impacts of these storms.”
The workshop is attended by representatives from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the UK Met Office, the UK International Water Management Institute, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, the Iraqi Government, the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, the Kuwait Public Authority for Agriculture Affairs & Fish Resources, the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation, the Kuwait Ministry of Health, the Middle East Green Initiative Regional Sand and Dust Storm Warning Centre, and the team overseeing the implementation of the project on Improved Resilience against Transboundary Sand and Dust Storms in Kuwait and Southern Iraq.