The Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME) announced in a statement that it recently held several meetings with the Ministry of Interior proposing a plan to create an environmental police unit.

Hussein Al-Qahtani, spokesman of the PME, indicated that the PME and the Ministry of Interior were coordinating on means to enforce the Kingdom’s environmental law.

Al-Qahtani explained that the PME is implementing an environmental inspection program.

According to this program, environmental inspectors are aided with state-of-the-art equipment which measures pollution inside facilities.

Inspection teams monitor violations and follow up on complaints lodged by citizens, as well as issuing reports and enforcing penalties. The spokesman said that penalties are applied in accordance with Saudi environmental laws and range from financial punishment to closing down facilities.

Majdi Al-Shami, a lecturer in the environment department at King Abdulaziz University, stressed the need for environmental laws and regulations to be implemented by bodies. He added that environmental police would effectively contribute toward the enforcement of the body of law.

According to the proposed plan, the environmental police will be divided into two sections, one for monitoring environmental violations and investigating perpetrators, while the second arm will be dedicated toward ensuring the law is enforced, Al-Qahtani said.

“Environmental police will ease the burden on many government authorities that were assigned the duty of monitoring environmental violations,” he added.

Prince Bandar bin Saud, president of the Saudi Wildlife Authority (SWA), had highlighted on an earlier occasion that the SWA had suggested the establishment of such a body eight years ago.

“The presence of environmental police has become more important, as it would ensure the applicability of laws pertaining to environmental protection. The world is facing a pressing environmental crisis and desert areas are among the most sensitive because of their limited natural resources,” he said.

“We are standing at a crossroads and need an environmental police to apply the law and educate the community about the importance of the environment and its resources,” he concluded.