Prince Khaled bin Sultan

Prince Khaled bin Sultan was recently awarded the Peter Benchley Award for outstanding exploration of marine environment by the California Academy for Science in San Francisco. Member of the board and adviser to Prince Khalid bin Sultan Abdulaziz Abu Zinada said that winning the Peter Benchley Award was an international recognition for the efforts of Prince Khalid in the conservation of the ocean environment. He said that the international presence of dignitaries at the ceremony reflected appreciation of the role performed by Prince Khalid in strengthening the global library with specialized research.

Abu Zinada pointed out that the environmental documentary film festival which will be held in the United States in October will also honor Prince Khaled for his efforts in protecting the seas and oceans and his patronage for related documentary films will raise environmental awareness across the world as they will be broadcast in many languages on various television channels.

“Prince Khaled Foundation has exerted many efforts since its establishment in 2000 to carry out scientific research and establish natural reserves in various parts of the world, especially in the Caribbean,” he said.

“These efforts are not limited to scientific research; they rise with the level of environmental awareness of people interested in oceans. The foundation has produced many documentary films about environmental education, which have been broadcast in various parts of the world,” he pointed out.

“The seasonal environmental awareness program, which is produced by the foundation, will be one of the most interesting programs in the world, and captures Prince Khaled’s interests in particular,” Abu Zinada said. The program will be recorded under water to film the greatness of the creator and can be viewed on the Internet.

A number of international media channels highlighted news of the award. The international journalists’ public relations agency in Maryland said this award is a crowning glory to Prince Khaled’s efforts in supporting research related to oceans.

The award was given for scientific research and the discovery of the remotest coral reefs in the world, and chalking out defined plans for these reefs that are the first of their kind.

“The foundation strived through its research journey in the high seas to collect accurate information about the status of coral reefs, by employing state-of-the-art sensory devices,” the agency said.