George Karani, Professor of Environtal Health, speaking to The Peninsula at the Qatar Scientific Club. Pic: Salim Matramkot / The Peninsula
George Karani, Professor of Environmental Health and Chair, Africa Partnership Initiative, Cardiff Metropolitan University School of Health Sciences has said that stakeholders in Qatar were aware of the environmental impact of land reclamation and, through coordinated efforts, were trying to evaluate the problem and find the solutions.
“My purpose of participating in the seminar on reclamation and marine environment was to speak on the quality of life and importance of collaboration among stakeholders. The state’s engagement with local people is a must to evaluate the environmental problems and present solutions,” he told The Peninsula.
Prof Karani was here to deliver a keynote lecture in a seminar titled “Land Reclamation and Marine Environment” organised by Staff Brig Ali bin Saad Al-Naimi, an academic associate at Cardiff School of Health Sciences and former board member of Qatar Scientific Club.
Karani said that he was impressed with the fact that various stakeholders in Qatar like Coast Guards, Ashghal, the Ministry of Municipality and Environment were open to discussing the problems related to reclamation.
He said that it was very necessary to bring all stakeholders together to evaluate the impact on marine environment and public health.
“Before applying solutions, we have to evaluate the nature and extent of the problem and it is possible only when we engage local indigenous population in the process. First, we should start talking about the issue and share our knowledge on the subject,” he added.
“If the problem is in the community, the solution is also in the community,” he observed. Prof Karani said that reclamation had many positive points like that the land could be used for construction and accommodation guaranteeing more employment. “But along economic benefits, it has its negative impact like it restricts water movement. It also has negative effects on fish as some species of fish are very sensitive and they cannot tolerate changes in water color, odor etc. Consequently, they start migration and sometimes in the process of migration they cannot survive,” he noted.
The professor said that reclamation in the long run affected food quality and quantity.
“It also spoils water quality and alters the features of beaches negatively,” he added. “It is highly commendable that due to efforts of Staff Brig Al-Naimi, all stakeholders discussed the issue for the first time under one roof with one another,” he said. Prof Karani is supervisor of Al-Naimi’s PhD research on reclamation and marine environment.
He said that during interaction with various officials representing different relevant departments, he had learnt that the authorities in Qatar used to implement strict environmental safety standards.
“We cannot stop progress but we must first evaluate the problems associated with progress and then apply solutions accordingly,” he added.
Prof Karani thinks that the land reclamation process should be executed with breaks in terms of time to provide breathing space to the nature for recovery. He said that the environmental problems could not be fully evaluated or understood without engaging indigenous people. “Similarly, no sustainable solution can be found if we neglect local people’s input and participation,” he observed.
He said that climate change was the biggest issue of the time and to tackle the challenge, indigenous knowledge should be combined with scientific knowledge. “We will have to include local communities and empower them to meet the challenge as the decisions made at foreign lands cannot address local problems. No one understands us better than us is the real philosophy in executing environmental solutions. Every partner is equally important in this process,” he added.
Prof Karani said that Millennium Development Goals could not be achieved as some developed countries crafted them with proper input from local people of various regions.
“I hope Sustainable Development Goals will be achieved as they are more realistic because efforts have been made to make them ‘inclusive’ in nature by taking input of developing countries,” he noted.
