A senior Bahrain government official has termed the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly known as the Copenhagen summit, held last December, as an event bogged by global politics, saying it offered little to help tackle deteriorating climatic conditions.

Dr Adil Khalifa Al Ziyani, director general, Public Commission for the Protection of Marine Resources, Environment and Wildlife, was speaking at a seminar, titled ‘Copenhagen Climate Change Accord – The Way Forward’ organised by the Institution of Engineers Pakistan – Bahrain Chapter with the cooperation of at Bahrain Society of Engineers.

“Let me differentiate between an environmental summit and a political conference. Copenhagen was of the latter kind,” he said in reply to a question posed to him.

Nevertheless, he said the Bahraini government was not just sitting back. It was making efforts to mitigate problems the country was facing due to environmental changes, he said.

In her presentation, titled ‘Outcomes of the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change’, Eng Suzan Al Ajjawi, senior environmental specialist, Public Commission for the Protection of Marine Resources, Environment and Wildlife, said political will is needed to counter global warming threats.

Al Ajjawi was part of Bahrain’s contingent to the summit.

She expressed happiness at how people from around the world were taking environmental issues seriously, adding that over 40,000 people had applied for accreditation to the conference, far exceeding the 15,000 capacity of the venue.

Focusing on Bahrain in the international climatic scenario, Al Ajjawi said the kingdom, an island country, was vulnerable to impacts of climate change.

She said 11 to 14 per cent of the kingdom’s shoreline will be inundated if the sea-level rose continued to rise at the current pace.

She added that Bahrain supported the position of the G77-plus China group in Copenhagen, and was as in favour of extending the Kyoto Protocol to after 2012, the year it ends.

Eng Rehan Ahmed, senior environmental specialist at the commission, meanwhile, in his illustration showed the huge shifts in weather patterns due to global warming, citing the recent floods in Saudi Arabia, cyclone Gonu that hit Oman in 2007, sever droughts in some parts of China and Africa.

Earlier, Eng Abdul Majeed Al Gassab, President Bahrain Society of Engineers, gave the welcome speech. The questions and answers session was chaired by Eng Zahwa Al Kuwari, director, Directorate of Environmental Assessment and Planning at the commission; while Eng Qamar Ul Hasan, vice-chairman, Institute of Engineers Pakistan - Bahrain Chapter, presented the vote of thanks. - TradeArabia News Service