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Riyadh Named Arab Environment Capital

A group photo of Arab environment ministers following the Jeddah meeting (Ministry of Environment)
A group photo of Arab environment ministers following the Jeddah meeting (Ministry of Environment)
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Riyadh Named Arab Environment Capital

A group photo of Arab environment ministers following the Jeddah meeting (Ministry of Environment)
A group photo of Arab environment ministers following the Jeddah meeting (Ministry of Environment)

Riyadh has been named the “Arab Environment Capital” for two years, during the 35th session of the Council of Arab Ministers Responsible for the Environment, held in Jeddah. Additionally, the Saudi Green Initiative received the award for the Outstanding Environmental Project in the government sector.

The 35th session brought about several key decisions focused on natural reserves, the Arab response to emerging climate change issues, and the follow-up on international environmental agreements and meetings, including policies connecting water and agriculture sectors.

The meeting, chaired by Saudi Arabia and organized by the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture in collaboration with the Arab League, emphasized the importance of linking water, agriculture, and environmental policies in Arab nations.

Dr. Osama Faqeeha, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture for Environmental Affairs, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the session addressed numerous topics aimed at enhancing joint cooperation, unifying Arab positions on international environmental agreements, and coordinating with regional and international organizations.

One of the most notable outcomes of the session was the selection of Riyadh as the Arab Environmental Capital, following competition from 10 countries. Additionally, the Saudi Green Initiative won the award for Outstanding Environmental Project in the Arab Government Sector.

According to Faqeeha, this achievement reflects Saudi Arabia’s leading role in adopting strategic, innovative, and sustainable environmental projects through its initiatives at both the local and international levels. The Kingdom has hosted many international environmental gatherings, underscoring its leadership in this field.

Faqeeha added that the ministry is working under various strategies related to the environment, water, and agriculture, all of which place sustainability at their core. Efforts are underway to improve waste management, with the goal of reducing landfill waste by over 95% by 2035.

He also noted significant targets for increasing environmental protection, including expanding protected areas, which were only 4% in 2016 but have now reached around 18%.

For his part, Minister of Environment, Water, and Agriculture, Abdulrahman Al-Fadhli, emphasized that Saudi Arabia embraces a comprehensive vision for ecosystems in line with its ambitious Vision 2030. He added that the Kingdom is committed to achieving its goals by implementing national strategies and plans aimed at protecting the environment, combating land degradation, preserving vegetation, enhancing biodiversity, ensuring food and water security, and launching national, regional, and global initiatives to combat land degradation and preserve habitats.

Water Crisis

Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, emphasized that the Arab world faces a more severe water crisis than any other region.

Dr. Ali Al-Malki, Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the Economic Affairs Sector at the Arab League, noted that this session comes following significant Arab participation in hosting COP climate change conferences, citing COP27 in Egypt and COP28 in the UAE. He added that the positive outcomes and initiatives launched during these conferences received global recognition.

Saudi Arabia is also preparing to host the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in December. This session is expected to address critical issues for Arab countries, including the implementation of the UNCCD’s 2018-2030 strategic framework, as well as addressing drought and dust storms.

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Astronomers Trace the Origin of Meteorites that Have Struck Earth

Reporters gather around a piece of a meteorite, which according to local authorities and scientists was lifted from the bottom of the Chebarkul Lake, placed on display in a local museum in Chelyabinsk, October 18, 2013. REUTERS/Andrey Tkachenko/File Photo
Reporters gather around a piece of a meteorite, which according to local authorities and scientists was lifted from the bottom of the Chebarkul Lake, placed on display in a local museum in Chelyabinsk, October 18, 2013. REUTERS/Andrey Tkachenko/File Photo
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Astronomers Trace the Origin of Meteorites that Have Struck Earth

Reporters gather around a piece of a meteorite, which according to local authorities and scientists was lifted from the bottom of the Chebarkul Lake, placed on display in a local museum in Chelyabinsk, October 18, 2013. REUTERS/Andrey Tkachenko/File Photo
Reporters gather around a piece of a meteorite, which according to local authorities and scientists was lifted from the bottom of the Chebarkul Lake, placed on display in a local museum in Chelyabinsk, October 18, 2013. REUTERS/Andrey Tkachenko/File Photo

Meteorites - rocks that fall to Earth from space - have pelted our planet from its birth about 4.5 billion years ago to today, often causing scant damage but sometimes triggering cataclysms. But from where exactly are these space rocks coming? New research has the answer, according to Reuters.

By studying the composition of meteorites that have landed over the years and the asteroids populating our solar system, astronomers have determined that about 70% of known meteorite impacts came from just three groups of asteroids residing in our solar system's main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

In total, the researchers in three different studies have now been able to account for the origins of most of the tens of thousands of known meteorites that have landed on Earth.

As part of the research, the astronomers carried out numerical simulations that enabled them to model the formation and evolution of families of asteroids orbiting the sun in the main asteroid belt.

"It is a group of asteroids which have similar orbits because they were fragments created during a collision between two asteroids," said astronomer Miroslav Brož of Charles University in Prague, lead author of two of the studies, published in the journal Nature, and Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Collisions in the main asteroid belt send rocky fragments flying haphazardly through space, with some of those eventually striking Earth.

"While more than 70,000 meteorites are known, only 6% had been clearly identified by their composition as coming from the moon, Mars, or Vesta, one of the largest asteroids in the main asteroid belt. The source of the other meteorites had remained unidentified," said astronomer Michaël Marsset of the European Southern Observatory in Chile, lead author of one of the two studies published in the journal Nature.

The Massalia asteroid family, formed about 40 million years ago, accounts for a class of meteorites called L chondrites that represent 37% of known Earth meteorites, the research found. The Karin family, formed 5.8 million years ago, and the Koronis family, formed 7.6 million years ago, account for a class of meteorites called H chondrites that represent 33% of known Earth meteorites, it showed.

Another 8% of the Earth meteorites can be traced to the Flora and Nysa asteroid families in the main asteroid belt, the research found. And about 6% of the meteorites can be traced to Vesta, it showed. Previous research found that less than 1% of the meteorites came from Mars and the moon.

The researchers are still exploring the source of the remaining roughly 15% of known Earth meteorites.

Space rocks have played a role in shaping the direction of life on Earth.

The new research did not look at the source of the one that struck Earth 66 million years ago that wiped out the dinosaurs, aside from their bird descendants, and enabled mammals to become dominant. Another study published in August found that this object formed beyond Jupiter and probably migrated inward to become part of the main asteroid belt before being sent hurtling toward Earth, perhaps due to a collision.

As the dinosaur-killing impact showed, a large space rock can pose a mortal threat to life on Earth. In 2022, NASA's DART spacecraft slammed into the asteroid Dimorphos in a proof-of-principle planetary defense mission that showed that a spacecraft can change a celestial object's trajectory just enough to keep Earth safe.

Some of the meteorites that have landed on Earth can give clues about the solar system's early history. They are primordial leftovers from a time before the planets formed in a large disk of material - called the protoplanetary disk - swirling around the newborn sun.

"Chondrites are primitive meteorites that have mostly preserved their original composition since their formation in our protoplanetary disk," Marsset said.