The upcoming Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) will discuss a groundbreaking report on the impact of climate change in Arab countries.
A team of over 50 researchers from all over the world, under the leadership of world environment veteran Dr. Mostafa Kamal Tolba, former head of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Dr. Mohamed El-Ashry, and renowned expert on coastal zones Dr. Mohamed El-Raey, has been working on this report over the last one year.
“It is expected to reveal new findings, mainly those derived from analysis of space images especially developed for AFED by the Center of Remote Sensing of Boston University (CRS-BU), to depict potential impact of climate change on the Arab countries. Director of the Center, renowned scientist Dr. Farouk El-Baz, will also be giving a presentation entitled: When the Desert was Green”, AFED said in a statement issued here yesterday.
The AFED said that conference, scheduled for November 19-20, 2009 in Beirut,, would be marked by a high level participation, including ministers of environment and energy from around the world, heads of agencies and top scientists. A main feature of the conference will be a presentation analyzing scenarios of climate change in the Arab countries, based on satellite images.
At the international level, the Danish Ministry of Climate and Energy will be highly represented and will submit an update on the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) hosted in Copenhagen, Denmark in December 2009. The conference is the major gathering of international governments to reconcile international protocol on climate change.
A special plenary session will be dedicated to discuss how shifting to green economy can help fight climate change, during which corporate leaders who participated in seven regional workshops on the subject of Green Arab Economy, organized by AFED and UNEP, will present experiences and recommendations to rehabilitate the Arab economy along a green path and kick off the Arab Green Economy Initiative.
AFED Secretary General, Najib Saab, disclosed that “AFED will be presenting its Green Initiative and contents of its report on climate change to the Arab ministers of environment at their meeting in Cairo next month, October 2009”. Saab hoped that the report and conference will help develop a strong and united Arab position at the forthcoming international climate negotiations.
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