In its effort to make Qatar a cleaner, greener, and more sustainable nation for present and future generations, Qatar launched yesterday it's National Environment and Climate Change Strategy.
Prime Minister and Minister of Interior H E Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani launched the Strategy, at the Sheraton Doha Hotel.
The Strategy will deliver three objectives of enhancing the health and vitality of the environment, improving the well-being of the Qatari population, and ensuring the economy’s resilience.
The preparation of the Strategy began in February, with the participation of more than 20 concerned government entities from various ministries, departments, and companies and more than 50 international experts from specialists worldwide.
To achieve its objectives, the Strategy identifies five environmental priorities: Reducing greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions, restoring biodiversity abundance, establishing sustainable water management, improving waste management and building a circular economy, and enhancing land use productivity.
This information was announced during a ceremony attended by a number of Their Excellencies ministers, ambassadors, and business leaders from various government and private agencies in Qatar.
Qatar also targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25 percent by 2030. It is also committed to enhancing ambient and indoor air quality in line with the latest scientific development. It will install over 30 air quality monitoring stations equipped with internationally approved technology.
All monitoring stations will be linked to form a national network to provide reliable real-time data. Air quality data and modeling will be the basis for decision-making to improve indoor and ambient air quality.
Speaking at the event, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, H E Sheikh Dr. Faleh bin Nasser bin Ahmed bin Ali Al Thani said, “Qatar’s National Environment and Climate change Strategy inaugurates the beginning of a new phase of the State of Qatar’s efforts to confront 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, is the initiative to plant one million trees. It launched in 2019, and more than half a million trees have been planted so far.
“Today we celebrate the launch of Qatar’s National Strategy for Environment and Climate Change, days after the issuance of Amiri decision No (57) for the year 2021 assigning the competencies of ministries, and which includes in its eighth article the competence of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change to limit emissions that cause climate change,” the Minister said.
He expressed his thanks to H H the Amir for supporting measures to protect the environment and address the climate change challenge. He noted that this had placed Qatar in a distinguished position as an active member of the international community on the matter.
H E the Minister highlighted the remarks made by H H the Amir during the Climate Action Summit of pledging $100 million to support small island developing states and least developed countries to address climate change and environmental challenges.
A representative from QatarEnergy, Engineer Ahmad Saeed Al Amoodi, shared an overview of Strategy. Specifically, he elaborated on three national objectives that include enhancing the vitality of the environment, strengthening 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 via reverse osmosis or more sustainable technologies amongst other targets.
Qatar will enhance critical infrastructure for sustainable waste management and drive more circular use of materials. To do so, Qatar seeks to close and rehabilitate 100% of unsanitary landfills and achieve a 15% material recycling rate of municipal wastes amongst other targets.
To enhance the long-term potential of all land resources, Qatar will prioritize high yield and sustainable agriculture production by driving more than 50% improvement in farm land productivity. It will launch sustainable urban planning initiatives such as mandating green building requirements amongst other targets. Following the launch of the Qatar’ 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), this November in Glasgow. As part of its commitments, Qatar has recently submitted its second report on the National Determined Contribution (NDC) to the United Nation.
