JEDDAH: A total of 15,000 gas stations in the Kingdom will be inspected to ensure they comply with required environmental standards, according to Prince Turki Bin Nasser Bin Abdul Aziz, President of the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME). He added that PME environmental inspectors have not had any problems during inspections of all government and private establishments. No team was prevented from inspecting Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources' plants. Delivering a speech at the launch of a number of PME awareness and public information programs Sunday, the prince also announced the establishment of an annual prize for local environmental media “as a modest contribution” to encourage the media to effectively participate in environmental and meteorological issues. He also announced the launch of a comprehensive environmental awareness project, the opening of the PME information center and the launch of a course on reporting disasters and environmental catastrophes in cooperation with Reuters, other media outlets and government agencies. He said the Kingdom has experienced its share of disasters. “The PME, being responsible for the issue of meteorology and environment protection in the country, seeks to improve the level of performance in dealing with disasters, especially in terms of the media,” he said. When instability occurs in a society people increasingly turn to the media, searching for news of developments and events happening around them. So the way the media handle disasters and crises is important in helping to mitigate the severity of the damage. If used negatively the media can make matters worse, he added. Prince Turki called on journalists to implement the ideas they will acquire at the course, to play a “constructive” role and be a real partner in times of disasters. “We at the PME are willing to constantly cooperate to reduce any hazard that might affect our country.” Sa'ad Bin Sulaiman Al-Shehri, Chairman of the Supreme Committee of the Prince Turki Bin Naser Prize for Environmental Media, said the SR120,000 prize is aimed at local media and international media working in the Kingdom. There are five categories: best journalistic work, best article or opinion piece, best environmental journalist, best meteorology and environment picture, and best newspaper in the field of environment and meteorology.
