His Excellency Dr. Saad bin Saud Al Fuhaid, President of the Arabian Gulf University (AGU), will patronise the opening of the "Integrated Environmental Assessment and State of the Environment Reporting" training workshop.

The event will be organised by the College of Graduate Studies at the AGU as part of the activities of the Shaikh Zayed Chair for Environmental Sciences, in partnership with the United Nations (UN) Environment Programme's Regional Office for West Asia and in cooperation with the Global Environment Outlook of the UN Environment Programme. The event will take place on June 24-26, 2024 in response to the urgent need for comprehensive environmental assessment as well as to prepare the environmental reports in the West Asia region.

Prof. Waleed Zubari, Dean of Graduate Studies who is also the Coordinator of the workshop, indicated that 24 environmental experts, including trainers, teachers and policymakers participating in the environmental assessment and reporting activities in the West Asia region, will take part in the training workshop to become future trainers in their countries.

He added that the workshop will rely on interactive presentations, group discussions, case studies, practical exercises, and training sessions, with technical support and guidance from the Global Environment Outlook of the UN Environment Programme, in order to engage the participants with the scientific content, exchange experiences and cooperate with their peers in producing the required reports.

The workshop aims to provide trainers from the Arab countries in the West Asia region with the basic tools and knowledge to conduct effective integrated environmental assessment and produce state of the environment reports.

The workshop, presented by experts from the AGU and the UN Environment Programme, will explain the basic concepts, methodologies and practical applications of integrated environmental assessment reports and state of the environment reports, as well as enhance the participants' understanding of the principles and methodologies of integrated environmental assessment and enhance their writing skills and enable them to use data analysis methodologies to improve the quality and impact of their reports, after clarifying the importance of the process of preparing state of the environment reports, and effectively training the participants in the methodologies of integrated environmental assessment and preparation of state of the environment reports.

It is expected that the workshop participants will achieve high-level results in skills of understanding international environmental assessment reports and the state of the environment, procedures for integrated environmental assessment and production of state of the environment reports, and facilitating knowledge transfer and retention, in addition to establishing a network of trained professionals for continuous cooperation.