DAMMAM, 25 February 2007 — A leading environmental activist in Bahrain has stressed the need to adopt effective policies to fight pollution at the ground level instead of looking for temporary solutions after irreparable harm has been done.
While speaking at an Arab conference on environmental pollution and human health in Manama recently, Ismail Al-Madani, director general of Bahrain’s Environmental Protection and Ecology Department, said the conference aimed to give an insight into the looming dangers of pollution on human health. He said it was proved beyond doubt that there was a direct link between negligence of the environment and several diseases increasingly found in human beings.
“Therefore measures should be taken to prevent such harms before they take the shape of irreparable calamities,” he said.
Habib Al-Hebar, regional representative for the United Nations’ Environment Program in West Asia, noted with satisfaction that the Arab countries had witnessed remarkable improvement in environment, health, education and illiteracy eradication over the past two decades.
“However, these positive changes are being challenged by factors such as the above-average rise in population, depleting natural resources, falling environmental standards, poverty and political disputes and wars,” he said.
