Shaheed El Hafed, 19 September 2026 (SPS) – A conference dedicated to presenting the new report of the Sahrawi Observatory for Monitoring Natural Resources and Environmental Protection (SONREP) began today at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Sahrawi Republic.
The event was attended by researchers and representatives of Sahrawi state institutions, as well as members of Sahrawi and Algerian civil society and a number of people interested in environmental and natural-resource issues.
The conference focused on reviewing the contents of the new report, including data and findings related to the situation of natural resources and the environmental impacts resulting from their exploitation in Western Sahara. It also discussed the importance of research and documentation in building a comprehensive record on Sahrawi natural resources and protecting them from exploitation, plunder and pollution.
Participants stressed the need to strengthen the involvement of students, young people and researchers in this field, encouraging them to conduct research and studies and produce new scientific materials that could enrich the body of knowledge and legal research concerning Western Sahara’s natural resources, while providing documented data that can be relied upon in various international forums.
The conference also underscored the importance of ensuring that the issue of natural resources and the consequences of their exploitation receives greater attention from national and international public opinion. This, it said, would help highlight the exploitation of resources in the Sahrawi territory and its environmental impacts, strengthen efforts to protect the Sahrawi people’s right to their natural resources, and promote respect for this right in various international frameworks and forums.
