one cannot imagine the environmental disasters caused by humans over the past hundred or two hundred years, such as the destruction of the rain forests which are the lungs of the world and the source of oxygen. man is also responsible for the desertification and destruction of the environment and the people, animals and birds and have polluted the oceans, rivers and lakes by dumping chemical waste and other hazardous materials in addition to the oil leaks. but the greatest environmental disaster in human history perhaps occurred in china when mao zedong in 1958 ordered to completely eliminate four pests -- mice, mosquitoes, flies, and the sparrows, which is close to the starling bird, after the government discovered it was devouring large quantities of grain and fruit crops to protect agricultural output. thus, the sparrows were hunted with rifles, their nests were destroyed and the eggs were vandalized before they were hatched. the authorities even made every effort to prevent the sparrow from sitting on tree branches with beating of the drums in every house and on every street. this eventually killed millions of birds through exhaustion because of continuous flying. when the polish embassy in the chinese capital stopped the security guards from entering the embassy grounds to kill the birds that had taken refuge in its garden, thousands of chinese surrounded the embassy building and started beating the drums for two days. the embassy reluctantly allowed the entry of the securitymen to collect millions of dead birds from the embassy garden. however, the terrible mistake made by mao came to light but it was too late, as china was hit by famine, drought, flooding of the yellow river, attack by locusts which ate the crop and devoured everything in its path. the chinese authorities discovered too late that the sparrow was not only feeding on fruits and grain but also insects including locusts. the famine resulted in the death of at least 30 million people, but some said the number of the dead far exceeded the 50 million mark, all because the dictator had taken upon himself to toy with the ecological balance, and this is not something that can pass without serious consequences. in kuwait, the government in 1995 established the environment public authority (epa) but unfortunately the management was unqualified. the new environmental protection law was issued four years ago and given broad powers. this is in addition to the existence of the supreme environment council but i fail to understand why this authority has failed to protect natural resources and make the environment suitable for human habitat and make the environment healthy for workers, protect facilities and maintain the ecological balance. for example, it has failed to achieve one of its main objectives of setting a general framework for environmental education and environmental awareness programs with active participation of the people to protect the environment. but all these look like rhetoric because the epa has failed to achieve other objectives related to setting up a comprehensive plan to confront environmental disasters and taking necessary measures in times of war and peace, in coordination with and cooperation of the concerned authorities. this is a dream that has nothing to do either with the supreme environment council or the epa, at least until now, not to mention other objectives that cannot be achieved. add to this the easy task of the epa relates to granting approval to companies, institutions and advisory offices specialized in assessing the environment. the negative attitude of the supreme environment council and the epa means they control everything and can do whatever they like. what did the epa do, for example, when disaster hit the mishref plant … almost nothing? it is our duty to fulfill our obligations towards the environment and what is happening at the epa is cause for concern. i do not really know who is responsible for this unfortunate situation. we hope the government will deal with the environmental issues more seriously. so who reads, hears, and applies?
