Doha, September 13 (QNA) - The Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) and the United Nations Environment Program's Office for West Asia (UNEP) signed an agreement on a project regarding the establishment of a biodiversity database in the State of Qatar, with the participation of HE Minister of Municipality and Environment and Acting Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Subaei, and Regional Development Coordinator of UNEP's Regional Office for West Asia Sabine Sakr.
The agreement was signed by Assistant Undersecretary for Environmental Affairs at MME Engineer Hassan Jumaa Al Mohannadi , and UNEP West Asia Regional Director and Representative Sami Dimassi.
HE Minister of Municipality and Environment and Acting Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Subaei explained that signing this agreement comes within the series of fruitful cooperation activities between MME in the State of Qatar and UNEP's Office for West Asia, pointing out that that it seeks to lay solid foundations for joint cooperation between the two sides, by developing the national information management system and establishing a biodiversity database in the State of Qatar.
The importance of this agreement lies in its consistency with many of our development plans and strategies related to environmental affairs, as the biodiversity database in the State of Qatar will ensure substantial progress in our environmental development paths, especially since the implementation of this project is one of our strategic objectives in each of the National Development Strategy of the State of Qatar, and the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan in the State of Qatar, in addition to the sustainable strategy of MME, His Excellency said.
He also thanked everyone who contributed to the signing of this agreement, which will effectively contribute to making the biodiversity system in the State of Qatar within the level of aspirations and ambition, as it embodies the spirit of integration and joint interest between the State of Qatar and the UNEP.
For his part, Assistant Undersecretary for Environmental Affairs Eng. Hassan Jumaa Bojumhur Al Mohannadi stated that the signing of the agreement is the culmination of the efforts made to formulate the project in a national framework based on knowledge and periodic documentation of biodiversity data in the State of Qatar.
He affirmed that this agreement, which came out of the close relationship with the United Nations Environment Program, would make a great leap in the advancement of the biodiversity system in the State of Qatar, as it would support the achievement of the objectives of the Ministry of Municipality and Environment represented in: establishing a comprehensive and integrated national database for biodiversity in the State of Qatar, in addition to building national capacities to promote and sustain biodiversity conservation, and establishing an electronic platform for knowledge management.
Al Mohannadi pointed out the importance of this step in creating an interactive tool that contributes to helping decision-makers develop solutions and take proper and sustainable measures to preserve biodiversity, in addition to facilitating access for everyone, whether they are researchers or environmentalists, to data and information related to biodiversity in the State of Qatar.
The agreement aims to protect the sources of biodiversity through organizing knowledge and periodic documentation within a national framework concerned with collecting the available biodiversity resources data within an integrated platform in which decision-makers, experts in the field of biology, ecotourism and nature enthusiasts interact easily, with an agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of the elements of biodiversity in the Qatari environment.
The project aims to build a sustainable database that contributes to the preservation and sustainable use of data at the national level for the preparation of reports related to biodiversity, monitoring and decision-making. The database will also support facilitating and promoting the implementation of multilateral environmental agreements, and the project will also create an online knowledge management platform to give decision-makers in the State of Qatar access to use and benefit from the information in processes related to national development and biodiversity.
The draft agreement also aims to document and update information and data related to the sustainable management of biodiversity in the country, to create environmental maps showing the ecosystem and its species, as well as to identify important sites for biodiversity in the country, and to publish regulations related to international agreements related to the sustainable management of biodiversity. (QNA)