The Seminar was organized in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as part of a participatory process for preparing Qatar’s Second Human Development Report (HDR). The HDR, guided by a National Steering Committee, is expected to be published in June 2009. This Seminar is part of GSDP’s effort to engage stakeholders from all sectors in preparing the Report. About 200 participants representing ministries and agencies, private sector and civil society attended the Seminar.
The Seminar featured four panels of experts and explored the various themes that will be featured in the national HDR namely: sustainable development; water and human development; marine environment and human development; and climate change and human development.
Qatar needs to take concrete actions and measures to integrate the four component pillars of sustainable development – economic, social, human and environment – in its long term development plans and policies.
The Seminar also considered the various threats to Qatar’s marine environment. These included the local effects of human activities such as pollution from the petrochemical industry, waste from power, desalination and sewage treatment plants, coastal reclamation projects, invasive species and overfishing.
The fourth panel, covering climate change, included a discussion on Qatar’s high carbon dioxide emission per capita.
