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'The phenomenon of climate change is undoubtedly one of the most serious challenges of our time.' The Amir, HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. speaking at the UN Climate Action Summit in 2019

NEW MINISTRY TO ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE

By Sarah Palmer

In late 2021, Qatar created a new ministry for the environment and climate change, part of a government reshuffle announced by The Amir, HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. HE Sheikh Dr Faleh bin Nasser bin Ahmed bin Ali Al Thani was appointed the minister in charge of the new entity. Although this is a new ministry for Qatar, the state has over the last few years been actively involved in finding solutions for the global climate change problem. What Qatar is doing about climate change internationally Qatar signed the Kyoto Protocol in 2005, an international treaty which extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international environmental treaty to combat 'dangerous human interference with the climate system', in part by stabilising greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. Qatar is also a signatory to the 2015 Paris Agreement. The Global Drylands Alliance (GDA) is an initiative Qatar was instrumental in creating, first mooted at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP17) in 2011. The GDA is a collaboration to make food sources in dryland countries secure – dryland countries make up around 40% of the planet's total land surface and are home to almost 3 bn people.