Al Toobi says ecotourism vital for Oman’s diversification plans

Ecotourism is one of the most viable options for addressing issues related to environment and its conservation. For a country like Oman, ecotourism is an important resource for the future as it is important for its diversification plans.

Mohammed bin Salim al Toobi, Minister of Environment and Climate Affairs, in a conversation with Observer on Tuesday — ahead of a conference on ‘Intelligent Sustainability’ which is opening at Hilton Salalah Resort on Wednesday — laid emphasis on the Sultanate’s efforts on environment conservation.

The minister, who is in Salalah to attend the conference, hailed various measures taken by the Sultanate towards environment conservation. “All such efforts are aligned with the sustainable goals,” he said.

“I am happy to see the profiles of the conference participants are varied and high. Some 150 people from the public and private sectors are participating in it. I hope it will touch upon issues of how we can align sustainability with sustainable development at a time when we are working on the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” he said.

The two-day conference will be Oman’s first ‘Intelligent Sustainability’ conference with participation from international majors, including Microsoft, Google, Siemens and Linkedin, Oman’s PDO and some local startups.

According to the event organisers, the ‘isustainability’ conference will be an “exciting event” for all the stakeholders of development, policymakers, technology enthusiasts and environmentalists.

“Fourth Industrial Revolution is one of the focus areas of our conference, in which participants will get to know about 10 local and international projects that will be part of the implementation process of the 4IR,” said a representative from the event organising firm, Impact Integrated.