The sixth session of the Gulf Environment Forum (GEF) on Tuesday discussed ways to ensure that Saudi legislation is enacted and developed to protect wildlife and to implement penalties and fines for illegal hunting and excessive gathering of firewood. Delegates also discussed ways to preserve plants and green spaces. The session was headed by Prince Bandar Bin Saud Bin Muhammad, Secretary General of the Saudi Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development. Dubbed the “Legal framework for environmental protection”, the session's discussions stressed the necessity to abide by existing laws concerning the environment. It was also proposed that Gulf countries use international legislation as a basis to develop their own laws. It further called on environmental bodies to use suitable technology for the preservation of the environment and wildlife. Prince Bandar called on education institutions and universities to generate programs to strengthen environmental awareness. Meanwhile, a number of high school girls attended the conference Tuesday to learn about the effects of pollution. They had a corner allocated for their Al-Jazeera School's project “I Will Be”. A school official, Ibtihal Ghulam, who is supervising the project, said it is aimed at developing the skills of the students in researching the causes of pollution. They will gain an understanding of environment-related terms and issues that everyone must understand. She added that pupils taking part in such events “will conduct their own research that will be summarized and sent to the Ministry of Education's Development Department”. She said the girls will be visiting the shoreline and parks in Jeddah “to record their observations”. The project involves the girls writing a book titled “Jeddah is Well”. One of the girls, Dina Makki, said their participation will help pupils to study types of pollution and how to get tackle it. She said the project will succeed if people took it seriously. Zahra Ba Thiyab, another pupil, wondered about the technique for cloud seeding. She said great results could be achieved if this could be developed properly. “So far we cannot predict or control the amount of rain using that technique.”
