MUSCAT: The 9th Gulf water conference kicked off here yesterday and will be discussing more than 96 scientific papers on water.

The conference is organized by the Omani Regional Municipalities and Water Resources Ministry in cooperation with the Water Science and Technology Association (WSTA) and the Secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

The conference aims to reach joint understanding on the best use of limited water resources in the Gulf region. Oman's Regional Municipalities and Water Resources Minister Sheikh Abdullah Al-Rawwas said in a speech that the conference coincides with the international celebrations of World Water Day entitled "Clean Water for a Healthy World.

Water resources are important to development and have a vital role in ensuring decent living for all society members, he stressed. It is important to continue efforts and coordination to stress water policies, he stressed.

He pointed out that Oman realized the importance of water and set an integrated system for effective and balanced management of water resources. On his part, WSTA head Ali Ridha said that great pressures were facing the limited water resources due to the rapid increase of population and the fast economic growth.

The decrease of water and the increase of consumption threaten of a great environmental disaster, he warned. He said that experts, academics, and water officials will be discussing several scientific papers to propose practical solutions.

WSTA is a Gulf association that is headquartered in Bahrain. It has more than 500 members that include employees in private and public water bodies, universities, research centers, and regional and international organizations in the Gulf region. The conference is held once every two years in one of the Gulf countries.

In another development, the state of Kuwait won membership, through election, into the standing committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), an official said in Muscat yesterday.

Head of media at the Public Authority of Agriculture and Fish Resources Abdelaziz Al-Ali said this came after lengthy meetings between the Kuwaiti delegation and representatives of other signatories, who expressed confidence Kuwait would be able to contribute considerably if granted membership in the committee.

The 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP15) will started here March 13 and is to conclude March 25. The official said the Kuwaiti delegation had represented the state honorably throughout the CITES meetings, which started a week ago.

The delegation was presided by Environment Public Authority Director General Dr. Salah Medhi and included representation from Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), the PAAFR, the Civil Aviation Directorate, Kuwait Airways Corporation (KAC), and Kuwait Municipality.

Al-Ali said head of the delegation met with the Qatari Minister of the Environment Abdullah Al-Medadi and discussed means to boost cooperation towards full implementation of the convention.

The CITES convention aims to conserve species by controlling trade in them and in by-products across international boundaries. Species that are listed in the agreement, Flora or Fauna, are placed on one of three Appendices according to how trade affects their survival.

Member states meet every 2-3 years at a "Conference of the Parties" to upgrade, the current being the COP-15, to downgrade or add new species to the Appendices. The convention is of great importance as the world sees over 350 species coming to the brink of extinction or actually going extinct every year. The cause is human activities including consumption as food, making leather goods, logging for timber, and manufacturing pharmaceuticals.

This is all to be added to the severe environmental deterioration and loss of habitats, also caused by human activity. The convention currently states on effort to protect over 28,000 indigenous Flora and over 5,000 indigenous Fauna species listed in the three appendices. - Kuwait Times