RIYADH: Saudi Arabia possesses some of the healthiest coral reefs in the Red Sea, and is committed to preserving and restoring them, the Kingdom’s Deputy Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Dr. Osama Faqeeha, said.
His remarks came during the inaugural meeting of the governance committee of the Global Coral Reef Research and Development Accelerator Platform, which has been announced following a meeting of the initiative’s founding committee, which comprised 16 member states of the G20 in addition to the EU countries.
During the meeting, Faqeeha was elected inaugural chairman of the platform’s governance committee, while Jennifer Koss, director of the Coral Reef Conservation Program of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was elected vice president.
Faqeeha said: “We welcome the Global Coral Reef Research and Development Accelerator Platform, which was announced by G20 leaders with the aim of improving coral conservation operations around the world and restoring them with a set of superior scientific and technical methodologies, and as a much-needed international collaborative effort to secure the future of coral life.”
He said that “the emergence of vaccines to protect against COVID-19 in record time is a testament to the effectiveness of concerted international scientific efforts to confront global challenges. This is what we hope to achieve in this platform, to confront the deterioration of coral reefs and the possibility of their permanent extinction from the world’s seas and oceans.”
Koss, said: “The US was pleased when the Kingdom drew our attention, during its recent presidency of the G20, to the urgent need to allocate greater resources and employ more innovative technologies in order to conserve global coral.”
She added: “This platform provides a unique opportunity to bring together the world’s scientific and coral management experts to complement current coral research and continue efforts to protect them, at a time when we are defining the future of our coral reefs, which are the basis for countless services that we cannot afford to lose in our ecosystem.”
The platform will accelerate research and development of coral reefs, and promote the next generation of science and technology needed to secure a future for reefs in combatting climate change and other pressures.
The research program will engage a global multidisciplinary community of scientists, coastal managers, technologists and innovators, guided by a strategic plan and objectives proposed by the platform’s scientific and advisory committee.
The platform will also connect existing national, regional and international research and development programs, engage the private sector in supporting these efforts, provide advanced research training to scientists from all countries and will facilitate access to scientific information and research and testing facilities around the world.
It will then provide the resulting new technologies and sciences, and allow them to support efforts on the ground to conserve and restore coral reefs.
The platform has designated King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) to serve as a central meeting point for the platform and program management, in recognition of its proven track record in coral reef research, its proven capacity for global research collaboration, its management of proposals from scientific institutions around the world, and its state-of-the-art laboratories for coral reef research and world-class facilities to host international conferences and meetings. The university will support the center’s operations at no cost to the G20, as an extension of its strong commitment to saving the world’s coral reef ecosystems.
KAUST President Tony Chan said: “Since its establishment, coral reef research in the Red Sea has been one of the university’s focus and strengths, so this global effort motivates and inspires us, as we offered to be a central meeting point for the platform to direct the necessary resources, talents and efficient ideas to achieve the platform’s goals and protect disturbed coral ecosystems around the world.”
Carlos Duarte, professor of marine science at KAUST and acting executive director of the platform, called for the need “to act as custodians of our planet — for the health of our oceans, and for future generations.”
Saudi Arabia ‘working to safeguard the future of world’s coral reefs’
https://arab.news/jth3q
Saudi Arabia ‘working to safeguard the future of world’s coral reefs’
- The Kingdom possesses some of the healthiest coral reefs in the Red Sea
- The platform will promote the next generation of science and technology needed to secure a future for reefs in combatting climate change and other pressures
Explosions and sounds of aircraft heard in Kabul, hours after Afghanistan attacks Pakistan
KABUL, Afghanistan: At least three explosions and the sound of aircraft reverberated in Kabul early Friday, hours after Afghanistan launched a cross-border attack on Pakistan in the latest escalation of violence between the volatile neighbors.
There was no immediate information on the exact location of the explosions in the Afghan capital, or of any potential casualties.
Afghanistan said its military launched its attack across the border into Pakistan late Thursday to retaliate for Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan border areas Sunday, and claimed to have captured more than a dozen Pakistani army posts.
Pakistan’s government, which had described last Sunday’s airstrikes as an attack on militants harbored in the area, confirmed clashes were taking place Thursday along the border but dismissed claims that army posts had been captured. It called Afghanistan’s attack unprovoked.
“In response to the repeated rebellions and insurrections of the Pakistani military, large-scale offensive operations were launched against Pakistani military bases and military installations along the Durand Line,” Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a post on X Thursday night. Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry said the retaliatory attacks were occurring along the border in five provinces.
The two countries’ 2,611-kilometer long border is known as the Durand Line, which Afghanistan has not formally recognized.
The two sides reported widely differing casualty figures.
Afghanistan’s deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat posted on X that “up to 55” Pakistani soldiers had been killed, with the bodies of 23 taken into Afghanistan, while an undisclosed number of soldiers had been captured.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar disputed the claim, saying two Pakistani soldiers had been killed and three others wounded. He said 36 Afghan fighters had been reported killed. In a post on X, he said Pakistan was giving a “strong and effective response” to what he called unprovoked firing from Afghanistan, and would continue to do so.
Mosharraf Ali Zaidi, spokesman for Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, denied that any Pakistani soldiers had been captured.
Fighting also broke out in a separate part of the border, with both sides reporting exchanges of fire in the Torkham border area.
Afghan authorities were evacuating a refugee camp near the Torkham border crossing after several refugees were wounded, said Qureshi Badlon, head of Torkham’s Information and Public Awareness Board. On the Pakistani side of the border, local police said residents were also evacuating to safer areas, while some Afghan refugees who had been waiting to cross back into Afghanistan were also moved to secure locations. Pakistan launched a sweeping crackdown on migrants in Oct. 2023 and has expelled hundreds of thousands of people.
Pakistani police said mortars fired from Afghanistan had landed in nearby villages, but there were no reports of civilian casualties.
“Pakistan will take all necessary measures to ensure its territorial integrity and the safety and security of its citizens,” Pakistan’s Information Ministry said in a post on X.
Afghanistan’s military released video footage of military vehicles moving at night, and the sound of heavy gunfire. The video could not be independently verified.
Tension has been high between the two neighbors for months, with deadly border clashes in October killing dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected militants. The violence followed explosions in Kabul that Afghan officials blamed on Pakistan. Islamabad, at the time, conducted strikes deep inside Afghanistan to target militant hideouts.
A Qatari-mediated ceasefire between the two countries has largely held, but the two sides have still occasionally traded fire across the border. Several rounds of peace talks in November failed to produce a formal agreement.
On Sunday, Pakistan’s military carried out strikes along the border with Afghanistan, saying it had killed at least 70 militants.
Afghanistan rejected the claim, saying dozens of civilians had been killed, including women and children. The Defense Ministry said “various civilian areas” in eastern Afghanistan had been hit, including a religious madrassa and several homes. The ministry said the strikes were a violation of Afghanistan’s airspace and sovereignty.
Militant violence has surged in Pakistan in recent years, much of which Pakistan blames on the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, and outlawed Baloch separatist groups. The TTP is separate from but closely allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban. Islamabad accuses the TTP of operating from inside Afghanistan, a charge both the group and Kabul deny.
