RIYADH, 16 September — A three-day meeting of the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature), scheduled to take place here today has been postponed.
This was announced by Dr. Abdul Aziz Abuzinada, secretary-general of the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development (NCWCD), who said the decision was taken in the light of the tragic events in the United States and the resulting flight delays that could have caused inconvenience to the participants.
“The participants will be informed of a new date early next week,” he observed.
The IUCN region, known as WESCANA, groups countries of North Africa, the Middle East and the republics of Central Asia.
Their representatives were set to hold a watershed meeting on several matters “that will have an impact on conservation activities in the region..., the most important being to finalize a strategy and program framework document for the WESCANA region.”
According to Abuzinada, who is also vice president of IUCN, this document is the fruit of an interactive strategic planning process among members of the region. Work on analyzing data, reflection, debate and prioritization spanned over two years.
“The result is congruent with IUCN’s global priorities and with the conservation and development imperatives of this vast region,” he said.
