Al-Rawda area has woken up one morning to an environmental crime that angered many of its residents and environmental activists. Many of the palm trees inside Jamal Abdul Nasser Public Park were chopped by ax for the establishment of new buildings! This matter has provoked the people to wonder over the role of the Public Authority for Agriculture Affairs and Fish Resources (PAAAFR) and its silence about the flagrant violations of the right of public parks, specifically, the palm trees.

We are in the middle of a desert, so the fact that we even have a tree must be a matter to be thankful for instead of cutting it with an ax!

Yet, two days ago, this lovely park witnessed an unforgivable crime against the environment, reflecting a lack of awareness and understanding in dealing with the environment, which poses many inquiries, including, why do we cut palm trees in Kuwait?!

The palm tree is like any other tree that could easily be taken out and transferred to other places by experts, without the need to cut it with an ax from the root while the heart was still alive and humid. That is why I see this as a crime and I'm sure this tree has been hurt while dying. Worse, there was no banner at the place about the nature of the project for which the trees were cut or a banner identifying the responsible official party!

According to news published in the newspapers, one of the guards had said the aim of the project is to establish a building for learning Quran! Seriously, we already have a large number of Quran houses in the whole of Kuwait and many open and empty spaces, but they wanted that lovely park and violated its privacy and tranquility! I'm so angry!

After the denouncement and objection over the cut palms, the workers have stopped their activity until the rest of the trees are transferred. These palms are dead now. It is strange that there is a small abandoned building in the park and it would have been better to renovate it without having to build a new space.

This news coincided with the decision of the Ministry of Social Affairs approving the official declaration of Palm Friends Society where it was stated that it targets to raise the level of environmental awareness of members of the community, and report of the inventory constraints facing the palm trees in Kuwait! Well, this new society should be involved to save any similar act in the future. The news was all over the paper, so it was not a secret! I'm thankful to the guard because he told everyone about the massacre. I hope he still keeps his job.

I know the subject of protection of the environment seems boring, but I believe that palm trees are like humans and it is not acceptable to torture it, and the building for learning Quran can be placed anywhere and it doesn't have to be at the expense of cutting a living creature like the palm.

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