DOHA, Nov 29 (KUNA) -- The Kuwait Scientific Research Institute (KSRI) representative at the Doha UN Climate Change 18th Conference of Parties (COP) Mohammad Al-Rashid urged Gulf Cooperation Council states to agree on a unified and comprehensive strategy to tackle climate change problems.

During a seminar on the sidelines of the conference, Al-Rashid said that the climate change threatens to jeopardize Gulf region environment and marine resources.

Moreover, the climate change also threatens the underground water, one of the main sources of potable water in the whole Gulf region.

Al-Rashid stressed the GCC states need to have a unified database and network to help facilitate the smooth exchange of information on grave impact of the global warming on the region.

He also urged the Gulf scientific and specialized institutions to help build accurate database on the natural resources, dangers it faces and how to protect it.

The 18th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 8th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol opened at the Qatari Capital of Doha on Monday, 26 November and continues until Friday, 7 December 2012.

The COP is the supreme decision-making body of the Convention. All States that are Parties to the Convention are represented at the COP, at which they review the implementation of the Convention and any other legal instruments that the COP adopts and take decisions necessary to promote the effective implementation of the Convention, including institutional and administrative arrangements.

A key task for the COP is to review the national communications and emission inventories submitted by Parties. Based on this information, the COP assesses the effects of the measures taken by Parties and the progress made in achieving the ultimate objective of the Convention.

The COP meets every year, unless the Parties decide otherwise. The first COP meeting was held in Berlin, Germany in March, 1995. The COP meets in Bonn, the seat of the secretariat, unless a Party offers to host the session. Just as the COP Presidency rotates among the five recognized UN regions - that is, Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe and Western Europe and Others - there is a tendency for the venue of the COP to also shift among these groups.