Senator Abdullatif Abdouh (Morocco), Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean has addressed the High-Level Meeting of the UN General Assembly, organised as a contribution to the International Year of Biodiversity, held in New York on 22 September.
The Moroccan Senator is a member of the PAM delegation representing the Assembly at the activities currently under way in New York on the occasion of the 65th UN General Assembly. Other members of the delegation include Italian Senator, Francesco Maria Amoruso (PAM Vice-President) and PAM Secretary General, Dr. Sergio Piazzi.
In his intervention Sen. Abdouh stressed that along with other important issues, PAM is particularly investing in environmental and biodiversity issues. He also highlighted the current situation in the Mediterranean noting that, due to the high level of an array of activitities, the Mediterranean biodiversity is at risk and particular attention should be dedicated to the anthropic pressure, although, on the other hand, the human factor can be controlled.
On a wider perspective, PAM Vice-President referred to the fact that PAM has also addressed the issue of problems caused by organised crime, responsible for the dumping of toxic waste in the Mediterranean. In relation to oil related pollution, similar to the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, PAM will organised in 2011 an international meeting on the risks, the prevention and the preparedness of intervention to counter such environmental disasters.
Finally, he underscored the fact that environmental and biodiversity issues do not respect established national boundaries and therefore there must be an efficient collective strategy for the protection of the global environment, which has consequential effects at a regional and local level.