Qatar unveils its strategy on environment and climate change

Qatar unveils its strategy on environment and climate change

Oct 29, 2021 – 11:41 AM

In its efforts to make Qatar a cleaner, greener and more sustainable nation for present and future generations, Qatar yesterday launched its national strategy for the environment and climate change.

Prime Minister and Interior Minister HE Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani launched the Strategy at the Sheraton Doha hotel.

The strategy will have three objectives: improving the health and vitality of the environment, improving the well-being of the Qatari population and ensuring the resilience of the economy.

Preparation of the Strategy began in February, with the participation of more than 20 relevant government entities from various ministries, departments and companies and more than 50 international experts from specialists around the world.

To achieve its objectives, the Strategy identifies five environmental priorities: reducing greenhouse gas emissions and atmospheric pollutants, restoring the abundance of biodiversity, establishing sustainable water management, improving waste management and building a circular economy, and increase the productivity of land use.

This information was announced at a ceremony attended by a number of ministers, ambassadors and business leaders from various government and private agencies in Qatar.

Qatar also aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25% by 2030. It is also committed to improving the quality of ambient and indoor air in accordance with the latest scientific developments. It will install more than 30 air quality monitoring stations equipped with internationally approved technology.

All monitoring stations will be linked to form a national network to provide reliable data in real time. Air quality data and modeling will be used as a basis for decision making to improve indoor and ambient air quality.

Speaking at the event, Minister of Environment and Climate Change HE Sheikh Dr. Faleh bin Nasser bin Ahmed bin Ali Al Thani said: “Qatar’s national strategy for environment and climate change inaugurates the start of a new phase of the State of Qatar’s efforts to address the phenomenon of climate change. This strategy is one of the main pillars to achieve the Qatar National Vision 2030. ”

At the local level, the Minister noted that many environmentally sustainable projects and initiatives are being implemented to reduce the effects of climate change. Among them, for example, the initiative to plant a million trees. It was launched in 2019 and over half a million trees have been planted to date.

“Today, we celebrate the launch of Qatar’s national strategy for the environment and climate change, a few days after the publication of Amiri Decision No. (57) for the year 2021 assigning the powers of ministries, and which includes in its eighth article the competence of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change to limit the emissions that cause climate change, ”said the Minister.

He expressed his thanks to His Royal Highness the Amir for his support for measures aimed at protecting the environment and meeting the challenge of climate change. He noted that this had placed Qatar in a distinguished position as an active member of the international community on the issue.

HE the Minister underlined the remarks made by His Highness the Amir during the Climate Action Summit of the commitment of 100 million dollars to help small island developing States and least developed countries to cope with climate change and environmental challenges.

A representative of QatarEnergy, Engineer Ahmad Saeed Al Amoodi, shared an overview of the strategy. Specifically, it elaborated on three national goals which include improving the vitality of the environment, strengthening the resilience of the economy and improving the well-being of the population.

As part of the Strategy, Qatar plans to ensure sustainable and integrated management of all water resources. The country will reduce groundwater extraction by 60%, reduce daily household water consumption by a third, and double desalination through reverse osmosis or more sustainable technologies, among other goals.

Qatar will strengthen essential infrastructure for sustainable waste management and promote a more circular use of materials. To do this, Qatar seeks to close and rehabilitate 100% of unsanitary landfills and achieve a material recycling rate of 15% of municipal waste, among other goals.

To improve the long-term potential of all land resources, Qatar will prioritize sustainable and high-yielding agricultural production by improving the productivity of agricultural land by more than 50%. It will launch sustainable urban planning initiatives such as imposing green building requirements among other goals. Following the launch of Qatar’s strategy, Qatar is currently preparing to participate in the twenty-sixth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26), in November in Glasgow. As part of its commitments, Qatar recently submitted its second State Determined Contribution (NDC) report to the United Nations.

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