APN | Riyadh

9-11 September 2024

"Within me is a cry, for everything being said and presented now will remain futile as long as the genocide and ecocide happening right next to us in Gaza persist".

This is how Razan Zuayter opened her speech at the 10th Regional Conservation Forum for West Asia, organized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which was held between 9-11 September 2024, in Riyadh.

Zuayter stated that 61 million people are suffering from malnutrition, 90% of them in our Arab region. Despite being the first to cultivate wheat and olives and the first to invent the plow, we are now the largest importer of food and wheat in the world.

She pointed out that the ecocide is currently affecting Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine, but Gaza is witnessing a complete genocide and ecocide, where the occupation has deliberately destroyed more than 80% of the agricultural sector and 60% of the trees. Additionally, it has used internationally banned white phosphorus bombs in Palestine and Lebanon, which destroy the soil and environment for many years.

Zuayter noted that, over the years, APN has been able to secure recognition from IUCN member states of the occupation’s responsibility for hunger and the necessity of holding countries that cause wars beyond their borders accountable. She also emphasized the importance of supporting local agricultural systems and small farmers as a way to confront crises.

Zuayter recommended that our region push for the formulation of a code of conduct during times of war, armed conflict, and occupation to regulate the process of monitoring environmental violations and damages to natural resources. She also called for the establishment of accountability and compensation mechanisms, referring to Islamic law, which laid out basic rules for the protection of trees and natural resources during wars. She said, "Let us teach the West our ethics in war, just as was written in the instructions of Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq to the soldiers of Islam before the “Futuhat” in Levant: Do not uproot a palm tree, do not burn or cut down a tree, and do not slaughter a camel except for food".

She added, "When the world speaks about the nexus between water, food, and energy, we remember and are enlightened by the words of Prophet Muhammad, who linked this nexus with justice and gave it a social and moral dimension at the same time when he said, 'People are partners in three things: water, pasture, and fire”.

Zuayter stressed the need to confront the use of the environment and food as weapons of genocide, as is happening in Palestine, and to affirm that the value of integrated sustainable agriculture is a right and a priority.

It is noteworthy that the IUCN was established in 1948 and now includes more than 200 governments and 1,000 non-governmental organizations. Its mission is to preserve the integrity and diversity of nature. APN has been a member of the IUCN for over 16 years and was elected in 2016 as a member of the Regional Committee for West Asia for four years.