Renewed Demonstration of Political Will at the Global Level Needed for Preservation of Environment

Commemorating the World Environment Day Dr. Naseer Homoud, Goodwill Ambassador and Director of Middle East office for the Intergovernmental Institution for the use of Micro-algae Spirulina against Malnutrition (IIMSAM), the Intergovernmental Observer to the United Nations Economic and Social Council said “climate change is a major concern for people all over the world. We can already see the impacts and people don’t want to leave the problems for their children and grandchildren to deal with. It is high time to pledge for protecting the nature”. He called today for greater urgency and ambition in international negotiations on a new global climate agreement, warning that it represents the world’s last chance to prevent climate change from reaching dangerous levels. “Urgent and ambitious global action is therefore imperative if we are to prevent dangerous climate change that threatens to cause enormous human suffering, undermine economic progress and poverty reduction, and trigger potentially catastrophic environmental changes”, he added.

The Goodwill Ambassador said “the world community is at a transitional stage in the way we view the links between the environment and our economic and social development. We want to pass on to the next generation a world which is strong economically and socially as well, built on strong environmental and social policies. I see no contradiction between ensuring the protection of the environment in which we live, and on which we depend, and the building of a competitive world, creating wealth and jobs. However, in order to combine protection of the environment with employment and prosperity, we have to change our patterns of production and consumption."

He further went on to call for strong and effective action at the international level “already new types of problems have emerged on which action is needed: On trade and the environment, on environmental security, on food security, on nuclear safety, on increasing scarcity of fresh water, on the more efficient use of resources. Environmental issues are becoming new foreign policy issues. In these discussions, we should give a strong lead and send a clear message to the rest of the world and other stakeholders”. He urged “what is now needed is a renewed demonstration of political will at the global level to progress for the sake of our children and grandchildren. We at IIMSAM are committed to giving a new momentum to strengthening of the environmental and social objectives. The world has to develop an effective process of sustainable development if we are to protect our environment and ensure our future economic and social development”.

The Goodwill Ambassador urged that reversal of the destruction in the environment constitutes the great moral, political and economic challenge of our era. He said "this demands the consolidation of an environmental and cultural conscience, individually and collectively, as well as the activation of society in its entirety. It demands a new way of thinking. It also demands that we place the interest of future generations above the short-term cost of our immediate action. It demands that we place the interests of those we possess nothing above the interests of those who possess so much. It demands vigilance and continuous struggle: a struggle for the right to the environment."

Highlighting the importance and relevance of Spirulina Dr. Homoud said "cultivation of Spirulina has its own advantages in today's times of global warming and climate change as its ecological cultivation does not cause pollution, soil erosion, water contamination or forest destruction, and is efficient as far as land use, water use, land occupation and energy consumption are concerned, making Spirulina production to maintain resource advantages over conventional foods".