The Saudi Council of Engineers (SCE) will attend a two-day meeting held by the Gulf Council of Engineers (GCE) in Muscat, Oman, which begins Feb. 2, to discuss the importance of the environment.

“Environmental protection has become everyone’s concern considering the threat posed by climate change all over the world. The GEC will do its share while focusing on the importance of water,” Ghazi Saeed Al-Abbasi, SCE’s secretary-general, told Arab News on Friday.

Al-Abbasi and Hamad Al-Shaqawi were elected secretary general and president of the SCE during a meeting in Madinah on Dec. 23. They will serve for two years.

Al-Abbasi said the meeting will be organized by SCE’s counterpart, the Omani Council of Engineers, under the auspices of the Gulf Council of Engineers (GCE), whose members come from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

Al-Abbasi said that during the meeting, two famous engineers from each country in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will be honored. Due to be awarded from Saudi Arabia are Madinah Mayor Khaled Taher and Basem Al-Shehabi. Six inventors from each GCC country will also be recognized.

“The awards are meant to encourage engineers from the region to do their best to excel in their profession and contribute to the advancement of society,” Al-Abbasi said.

He added that engineers and inventors were recommended for recognition by the Federation of Engineering Institution for Islamic Countries (FEIIC), which was established 20 years ago, with 22 active members out of a total of 57.

Active FEIIC members include Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Sudan.

Al-Abbasi also said that the meeting will also call on other countries that are FEIIC members to be more active in the organization and “contribute wherever possible for the advancement of the engineering profession.”

He noted that the topic of the conference is very timely considering that the average daily consumption of water per individual in the Gulf states varies from 300 and 750 liters daily, which is one of the highest in the world.

The reason for this, according to a report, is due to the absence of demand management, government focus on increasing water supply through building desalination plants and increasing dependence on ground water.

Meanwhile, Al-Abbasi urged all local firms in the Kingdom to refrain from hiring engineers not duly accredited by the SCE, adding that only about 1,200 engineers are real degree holders.

He made the disclosure in the wake of an announcement that SCE had detected 30,000 foreign engineers with fake degrees.