2024-09-30 16:30:22
In Oman, a desert country on the Arabian peninsula where most of the 4.5 inhabitants live near the coast, rising sea levels are a harsh reality. “Our agriculture depends on ground water and salt water destroys our cultivated land, making irrigation impossible”explained Rumaitha Al Busaidi. As soon as he finished his education, this marine doctor decided to roll his arms up. “I decided to implement and participate in the development of programs that combine fish farming and agriculture. My country is experiencing serious food security problems, I cannot settle for observer status”he said. His field work led to a national plan to convert around fifty farms into fish farms by 2020. First victory.
But the young woman did not want to stop there. Describe yourself as a “Seller”he joined the Environment Association of Oman, the country’s only NGO working in the environmental field. Aged 37, he is the vice-president today. His goal? The awareness that causes among the population of the changes that the Arabian Sea is making, so that, in turn, the political party can mobilize. “There is an emergency, he said. In northern Oman, the average temperature is already 1.7°C higher than in the pre-occupation period and, by 2100, the sea will have risen by 1 meter and damaged our areas. »
According to Ms. Al Busaidi, many researchers around the world do not want to sit back and do nothing. “Scientists are increasingly joining environmental movements. Creators of knowledge and influential figures in society, they are especially important to lead change”notes British magazine Creation in an analysis published in June 2024 (“Identities of scientists shape engagement with environmental activism”).
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