Meteorology Department and United Nations Program Sign a Memorandum of Understanding
The Directorate
General of Civil Aviation, represented by the Meteorology Department, signed a Memorandum
of Understanding with the United Nations Human Settlements Program (Habitat) to
achieve the 17th Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda.
The Memorandum
was signed by the Director-General of Civil Aviation - Eng./ Yousef Al-Fouzan
on the Kuwaiti side, while it was signed fjor (Habitat) by Dr. Amira
Al-Hassan - Director of the United
Nations Human Settlements Program (Habitat) for the Arabian Gulf States and
Kuwait, in the presence of a number of ambassadors, authorities and government bodies.
Eng./ Al-Fouzan
said in a press statement on the sidelines of the signing that the purpose of
the Memorandum is to achieve the domestic development goals, the issues of urban
development and reconstruction of cities, and also to provide a framework for
collaboration through which the two sides will work together to contribute to
making cities and human settlements in Kuwait inclusive, safe, resilient and
sustainable.
He explained
that the Memorandum would contribute to monitoring climate changes and weather
conditions inside Kuwait and their impact on the resilience of the cities, and
identifying the positive impact resulting from the United Nations Human
Settlements Program project to combat cross-border dust.
He stressed
that this Memorandum will result in collaboration and exchange of climate
studies and data related to the Kuwaiti cities most affected by the dust
storms, in addition to working on joint collaboration programs to execute specific
projects between the two sides.
He pointed to a
recent scientific study on sand and dust storms passing over the State of
Kuwait, extends to Bahrain and Qatar, which confirmed the existence of eight
wind paths that raise dust on the country, equivalent to 60 tons per square
kilometer, causing health, environmental and economic problems, where losses
are estimated at about 190 Million Dinars annually (nearly US. Dollars 618 Million).
Eng./ Al-Fouzan
indicated that there are several government bodies in the country, including
the Meteorology Department, that have agreed with the United Nations Human
Settlements Program in the first phase concerning the project of adaptation and
resilience to cross-border sand and dust storms between Kuwait and Iraq, to handle
and stabilize soil at the two sources of sandstorms in the two governorates of Thi
Qar and Muthanna with an area ranging between 150 and 200 square kilometers
between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and is 250 kilometers away from the
borders of Kuwait.
He stated that
the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development has assumed financing the project,
where the duration of the first phase will be five years, at a cost of about Four
Million Kuwaiti Dinars (nearly US. Dollars 13 Millions), and is expected to
contribute to alleviating more than 40 percent of the dust that crosses Kuwait.
The Human
Settlements Program (Habitat) was established by the General Assembly of the
United Nations on December 19, 1977 and turned into a program under its resolution
on December 21, 2001, which is considered the coordinating agency for human
settlements activities within the United Nations system.
Moreover, the Human
Settlements Program (Habitat) is responsible, in collaboration with
governments, for enhancing and reinforcing collaboration with all partners,
including the local authorities, private and non-governmental organizations, in
the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals,
especially the 11th Goal of making the cities and human settlements
inclusive, sustainable, safe and resilient.