UNESCO Ocean Commission Appoints Kuwaiti Expert as Vice‑Chair

Election to UNESCO Ocean Commission

Kuwait’s representative was elected vice‑chair of the Indian Ocean Regional Commission of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission on Thursday, the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research announced (KUNA). The election took place during the commission’s meetings in Bali, Indonesia.

Proposed Joint Research Expeditions

Dr Turki Al‑Saeed, who heads KISR’s Coastal and Marine Resources Management Programme, told KUNA that Kuwait had put forward a plan to organise joint marine research voyages using its vessel Al‑Mustakshif (The Explorer). The voyages would stretch from the Arabian Gulf across the Indian Ocean to the Bay of Bengal, and also take in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. The goal is to investigate micro‑plastic pollution and to boost regional and international scientific cooperation in marine studies.

Collaboration and National Experience

Al‑Saeed said the plan also calls for cooperation among KISR, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences and the Regional Organization for the Protection of the Marine Environment to combine research capacity and know‑how. During the Bali meetings Kuwait highlighted more than three decades of marine monitoring and research, together with four KFAS‑funded projects that examine marine ecosystems, biodiversity, pollution and climate change.

Future Priorities and the UN Ocean Decade

He noted that Kuwait’s forthcoming research priorities include building marine monitoring systems and scientific models, improving forecasts of harmful algal blooms and fish kills, and evaluating the impact of human activities on the marine environment. Al‑Saeed stressed the need to strengthen cooperation among member states, exchange data and expertise, and develop research capabilities to protect the marine environment and ensure its sustainable use. Such work, he added, would support the aims of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.