‘Absence of govt environmental coordination portends disasters’
Low performance threatens Kuwait’s economic resource
KUWAIT CITY, May 14: A recent report by the Audit Bureau painted a bleak picture of Kuwait’s environmental future, based on low performance indicators of the concerned government agencies, threatening in the end the country’s only economic resource, which is oil, impeding its export in the future, resulting losses in millions, not to mention the great damages to public health and infrastructure in the country.
The report, issued under the title ‘Evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of the performance of the concerned authorities in dealing with the effects of climate change in Kuwait’ monitored the profound weather and environmental changes that Kuwait is subjected to, in contrast to the decline in the performance of government agencies and the failure to implement plans and projects that help In the face of these disruptive changes to health and the economy.
Report
The report warned of the rising sea level, which is losing coastal lands between 1.4% to 3% of its area, and exposing the desert ecosystem to the risks of extensive deterioration with an area of 14.2 thousand km2, equivalent to 80% of the country’s area, as a result of many natural factors, most notably the change in cover Vegetation, loss of biodiversity and damage to natural materials.
The exacerbation of the creeping sand phenomenon and the absence of vegetation cover had a negative impact on the activity of many facilities, including oil wells, oil collection centers, air bases, main roads, threatening the infrastructure, and representing a burden on the state budget, as the removal of sand cost the public budget in one year About $4 million, and the cost of removing one cubic meter of sand rose to $1.32, which is the highest price in the world, and the total annual vegetation cover change cost was $35.4 million.
The “Accountability” criticized the lack of coordination between the concerned authorities such as “Agriculture” and “Works” with the oil sector in taking the necessary measures to make windbreaks and increase afforestation around highways and oil installations, to address sandstorms, which hinders the export of oil and deprives the country of its source of income the only.
The report included mathematical data on the increase in average temperatures in the summer
from June to September from 2005 to 2019, with a clear rise in temperature in 2021, which leads to heating the sandy soil and the emergence of a solid upper crust