Ashraf AboArafe
His Excellency Ambassador Ahmed Rashid Khattabi, assistant Secretary General – Head of the Media and Communication Sector gave a speach titled “Arab media and the stakes of sustainable development”
On the sidelines of the meetings of the Permanent Committee for Arab Media and the Executive Office of the Council of Information Ministers, I am honored to participate in this high-level forum in the ancient Mediterranean city of Tripoli to share with you a set of ideas on the topic of “Arab Media and the Challenges of Sustainable Development.”
To begin with, let me recall that the concept of sustainable development, which means responding to the needs of the present without affecting the requirements of future generations, appeared as a socio-economic concept for the first time, outside intellectual circles, in the report of the Brotland Committee in 1987, named after the then Prime Minister of Norway, who supervised its preparation.
The Earth Summit in 1992 constituted a powerful symbolic moment for the international community to become aware of the conclusions and implications of the “Club of Rome” report on the limits of growth and the human future, and then the emergence of a problem with a global dimension within the framework of multilateral diplomatic work and the dynamics of the movements of international players from parliamentary institutions and “Green” parties. And territorial groups, especially civil society components across the world, that sought to pressure governments to take bold measures to confront the threats to the environmental environment, global warming, and preserve biodiversity.
The year 2000 is an important milestone in this path, with the United Nations issuing the Millennium Goals document, which primarily targeted developing countries and paved the way for the adoption of the 2030 Agenda in 2015, which took on a more momentum, comprehensive, and diversified character by setting 17 goals and 169 targets, the most prominent of which is addressing the root causes of poverty and exclusion, providing treatment and providing Adequate housing to achieve sustainable development includes, in addition to the economic dimension, environmental and social aspects. These are the goals for which the media, with all its branches, plays an essential and influential role in keeping pace with the implementation and enlightening public opinion with information and facts that concern sustainable development plans.
In this regard, the 2015 Sharm El-Sheikh Summit adopted the international agenda, and a specialized department for sustainable development was immediately established in the League of Arab States. The Arab Summit in Dhahran in 2018 also approved the Arab Media Map for Sustainable Development, which identified the organic interconnection based on the media level with each of the goals of the 2030 Agenda within the framework of a participatory vision based on making the human being the goal and essence of the development process.
The Arab media is required to be an essential lever in following up on the international agenda through a media approach of proximity and institutional communication that contributes to containing and correcting behaviors of waste, depletion of capabilities, and protection of ecosystems, and to provide media programs to encourage agricultural projects that support sustainability in light of the scarcity of water resources, knowing that the Arab region is considered one of the poorest. Areas in water do not exceed 7 percent of the world’s water reserves.
In accordance with this perspective, we emphasize the importance of integrating environmental media and education on sustainable development into Arab educational curricula in order to build a responsible citizen regarding his environmental environment and establish a media that interacts with sustainable development issues within the framework of plans aimed at moving towards a green economy and overcoming pressing structural constraints, including developing patterns of development. Production to ensure food security and control imbalances in urban sprawl and demographic growth, as it is expected, according to United Nations estimates, that the population of the Arab world in the year 2050 will reach about 686 million people.
There is no sustainable development without guaranteeing the right to information and communication, and there is no sustainable development without spreading the culture of citizenship in a way that opens the way for the citizen through the media and social networks to be a real actor in dealing with development goals and establishing the governance components of sustainability.
Also, the crises and natural disasters whose painful tragedies we have experienced in the recent period following the violent earthquake in the Al Haouz region in Morocco, and the torrential floods that struck the city of Derna, demonstrated the vital role of the various media, including the public media, in dealing with the dire repercussions of such disasters on the living, health and psychological conditions of the affected population. .
Achieving the sustainable development goals by 2030 may seem difficult to achieve in a complex Arab context, but the most important thing is to arm ourselves with the political will and develop public policies capable of accelerating efforts to win development stakes, taking into account the need to benefit from experiences that have proven their success and the necessity of being open to productive partnerships, especially in It relates to building integration capabilities with specialized bodies and agencies such as the United Nations Environment Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and the United Nations Development Programme. The Arab League also participates in the conferences of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (Marrakesh 2016, Sharm El-Sheikh 2022).
Dubai 2023)
In accordance with this perspective, the League of Arab States and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) recently launched the “Arab Vision 2045” initiative in support of achieving development goals in a way that enhances Arab citizens’ confidence in a safe and prosperous future in partnership with civil society and research centers aimed at establishing a creative Arab social contract. A renewed foundation based on the individual, the state and the environment on the horizon of building a better collective future that inevitably passes through valuing human capital, advancing scientific research and mobilizing joint capabilities according to an integrated and harmonious regional approach.
In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that the role of the media in promoting sustainable development goals is among the priorities on the agenda of the Council of Arab Information Ministers and its structures, in line with the nobility of the Arab media’s mission in creating meaningful and credible content that contributes to advancing sustainable development paths, noting that the award the Media Journalism Year 2022 was devoted to this topic to encourage Arab media competencies.
Thank you for listening
