Raising the Alarm: The Need for PERSGA’s Intervention in the RSGA Region:
Two centuries of industrialization came all at once for the countries of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, when oil wealth brought both the benefits and problems of fast economic growth to one of the world’s most fragile environments.
PERSGA began its efforts at a time when regional marine life faced threats from oil discharged by ships, from dredging and construction as well as from wastes produced by big industrial plants being built in crucial coastal zone areas. PERSGA’s intervention also stemmed from concern over mankind’s unsustainable rate of consumption of natural resources and because most development was performed without taking into account environmental needs. Such unsound development policies have inevitably resulted in increasing disturbances to the region’s ecological balance. PERSGA thus assumes the task of promoting sustainable development in the region and encouraging both local and national activities that work towards safeguarding the natural environment.