Environment Public Authority: Kuwait's environment has suffered unprecedented damage

The Kuwait Association for the Protection of the Sea Birds (KAPSB) has emphasized the “criminal linkage between what happened in Kuwait in 1990 and what is currently occurring in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region due to the ongoing war, and the resulting brutal Iranian attacks on natural resources, public and private infrastructure, and the consequent environmental damage and destruction of infrastructure that exacerbate long-term pollution.” The association noted that “Kuwait’s environmental renaissance began with the revelation of the scale and nature of the destruction and its impact on the country’s diverse ecosystems. Following liberation, the Kuwait Association for the Protection of the Sea Birds called for the establishment of a governmental body dedicated to environmental affairs, which led to the creation of the Public Authority for Environmental Affairs in 1995. This was followed by Kuwaiti efforts to enact Law No. 42 of 2014 on the Protection of the Environment and its amendments, as well as concerted cooperation among relevant authorities to rehabilitate damaged ecosystems, remediate soil, and eliminate the oil lakes that covered Kuwait’s desert.” The association stated that “the Kuwaiti environment suffered unprecedented destruction due to military operations and the burning and destruction of oil wells during the brutal Iraqi invasion,” adding that “the state has made significant progress, at a heavy cost, in rehabilitating degraded ecosystems, but much remains to be done.”