Al-Othaimeen: OIC Member States most affected by climate change, least liable

Date: 26/11/2019

"Climate change has emerged as a serious threat to the lives of millions of people worldwide during the last few decades," stated Dr. Yousef A. Al-Othaimeen, the Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). This was part of his speech at the opening of the 16th Regular Session of the OIC Independent Permanent Commission for Human Rights (IPHRC) held at the IPHRC headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday 26 November 2019. The theme of this Session, which is going on until 28 November 2019, is "Climate Change and Environmental Protection: a Human Rights Perspective".

Delivered by Dr. Abdullah Al-Tayer, Director General of the Cabinet and Chief Adviser, on behalf of the OIC Secretary-General, the speech asserted that climate change poses an existential threat to communities given the increasing weather volatility, declining agricultural productivity, and the receding water levels and quality.

Al-Othaimeen added that while the impact of the OIC Member States on global warming is minimal, they are among the most vulnerable to climate change, which is ascribable to their high dependence on high climate-sensitive natural resources and low adaptation capacities due to technological and financial impediments.

The OIC Secretary-General also stated that the OIC Member States face various human rights challenges due to population growth, resource depletion, environmental degradation and climate change. Therefore, he pointed, environment conservation have become one of the priority issues on the OIC agenda. He drew the attention to the growing awareness among the OIC Member States of the need to combat the negative effects of environmental changes through the adoption of climate-friendly technologies and the promotion of international cooperation.

The IPHRC 16th Regular Session witnessed the presence of representatives of the OIC Member States and Observer States, national human rights institutions of Member States, experts from various relevant international and regional organizations and media personnel.

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