(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) By Zahraa Al-Kadhmi
KUWAIT, June 8 (KUNA) -- Deputy Director General for Technical Affairs at the Environment Public Authority (EPA) Dr. Abdullah Al-Zaidan said Thursday cultivation of corals on environmentally friendly concrete models (Mayafer) on Qaruh Island is part of rehabilitating marine biodiversity in Kuwaiti.
In statement to KUNA, Al-Zaidan said that this national project came in cooperation with various state agencies with aim of implementing goals of the development plan and of the UN sustainable development program as well as international agreements ratified by Kuwait.
He added that the authority is working on three environmental initiatives on the island, cultivating coral, releasing turtles marked for extinction and tracking them, and finally cleaning the seabed from waste with a specialized environmental team.
The authority placed Al-Mayafir on Qaruh island to study its quality and use in agriculture, explained Al-Zaidan, as they coordinated with the Scientific Center to plant corals and put it on the Mayafer.
He pointed out that wrong human practices in the Kuwaiti islands, such as passing boats harm the coral, which poses a threat to living organisms, stressing that this step came to reduce the resulting negative effects and preserve biodiversity.
Al-Zaidan noted that two turtles have been released in a similar previous project that was launched last summer and that the sea turtle tracking project comes in cooperation with the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS), the Scientific Center, Kuwait University and the Coast Guard, where a tracking device is placed on turtles to build a database for migratory and endangered turtles.
Regarding the initiative to collect waste from the bottom of the island, Al-Zaidan said that with the arrival of summer and the increased visiting to islands, the wrong practices will increase including dumping waste on the beaches and at the sea, which prompted the team to clean the island of waste.in hopes of reducing waste dumping and protecting marine environment.
Al-Zaidan affirmed the authority's keenness on the environment of Kuwait and following up on various environmental issues, confirming Kuwait's commitment to international agreements on preserving biological and environmental diversity and implementing them on a local level. (end)
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