JEDDAH, 11 July 2007 — Two Saudi students won places to attend an urban development conference that began yesterday. The British Council will sponsor Mohammad Arafah of Riyadh’s Najd School and Kasim Al-Aujan of the Eastern Province’s Saad School to attend the three-day conference being held at London’s Natural History Museum.
The two students won an essay contest sponsored by the British Council in the subject of environmentally friendly urban development. They are part of a 60-strong international student delegation brought to the Greening Cities Summit by the British Council.
Their visit is part of the Council’s initiative that aims to achieve climate security through international consensus and commitment to finding sustainable solutions.
Director of Science at the British Council, Lloyd Anderson, said: “We are delighted to be able to support the Natural History Museum’s summit on greening cities by ensuring students from overseas have the opportunity to contribute to this important discussion.”
He said he was sure that all the students involved were concerned about the future of the planet and would be affected by climate change in many different ways.
“We hope their perspectives will enrich the debate and they will take home new ideas to pass on the urgency of the climate change message,” he said.
This year’s event will investigate the environmental and ecological impacts of cities and debate actions to reduce a city’s carbon footprint and encourage biodiversity their ecological footprints and review the need for innovative thinking to make them greener.
The topic is particularly pertinent to Saudi Arabia with is current economic expansion and the rapid growth of urbanized living in the Kingdom. To examine a practical application of a greener city policy, the students will also have the opportunity to try out one of Transport for London’s diesel-electric hybrid buses, which cut carbon emissions by up to 40 percent.
Keynote speaker and Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone said: “The fight to tackle climate change will be won or lost in cities.”
