JEDDAH, 30 July 2005 — The environment is now definitely on the public agenda after the second day of the Jeddah beach cleanup campaign that concluded last night.
Divers and exhibitors alike were delighted with the response by the public and media to their efforts and agreed that as a first step to achieving the long-term goal of national environmental awareness, the two-day campaign had succeeded.
Prince Sultan ibn Salman, secretary-general of the Supreme Council for Tourism, said that the environment and some of the wilder places in the Kingdom are tourist attractions. “We want foreigners who visit these places to enjoy them,” he said during the concluding ceremonies of the campaign. “But we also want Saudis to enjoy them and become involved.” He stressed the importance of sustainable and environmentally considerate tourism as both good for the country and as a source of revenue for those involved.
“I am extremely pleased that in a very short period of only three weeks that was available this event was put together,” he said, “That there has been tremendous cooperation between the government bodies, private sector and interested and concerned divers.” He felt that it showed a united desire to move the environment up the public agenda. He particularly thanked Prince Abdullah ibn Saud ibn Mohammed who, as head of the organizing committee, had given so much time and effort to make the event successful.
“I hope many more people will become involved as the campaign progresses,” he said. He said that more divers and concerned citizens should come forward and help with planned future cleanups and give their names to Prince Abdullah and his committee. “The more are involved, the better it will be for all,” he said.
“Ten out of ten for principle,” said Maggie Andriopoulos, a diver and environmentalist. “Cleanups have been held before, but the scale and official backing from the ‘Leave No Trace’ campaign raised the profile from local to national level.”
She made the point that a large proportion of the world diving community is female. “Understandably, there were none diving here,” she said, “however, we need to get women very much involved as they are a key to developing good environmental habits in the family from an early age.”
Hans Sjoeholm, a vastly experienced diver and underwater videographer, who has dived the Corniche for over twenty years said: “I have watched the gradual accumulation of garbage killing off or damaging the coast along the Corniche. But, I am amazed to see that there still are fish and some living coral.”
He thought that the campaign was highly commendable but was concerned at the enormity of the task. “It’s high time that something like this was started,” he said. “There is still hope for the reef, it is not too late but we have to act sincerely and now. You could have divers down there every day for a year and still not clear the area.”
Maggie Andriopoulos concurred: “Now it has started, the positive results of these two days should be the seed to grow environmental awareness. It would be a huge loss if all this came to nothing.”
Prince Sultan who dived on the worst sites yesterday said that the campaign over the last two days was a starting point. The follow-ups are already under way from plans to place awareness notices and pictures all along the Corniche to long-term educational projects which make environmental awareness part of the core curriculum.
Prince Sultan reminded the public that although the last two days had been focused on the marine environment, the principles of “Leave No Trace” apply equally to the desert areas. “We must remember the respect for the environment our forefathers had,” he said, “and encourage the same care and attention everywhere we go.”
“It’s a matter of integrating awareness into the culture,” he said, “and changing the mindset of the public.”
