Dr. Ahmed Al-Ansari has been the deputy chairman of the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME) since January 2017. At a forum on Wednesday, entitled "Transparency in the dialogue between the General Authority of Meteorology and Environmental Protection and the private sector," at the Jeddah Chamber, Al-Ansari provided an in-depth explanation of the PME’s work and of developments in the fields of environmental protection and meteorological activity, with the aim of spreading awareness in the Saudi private sector. He said that one of the PME’s most important tasks is to monitor weather phenomena and to issue forecasts, in order to safeguard people’s lives and property. Al-Ansari holds a bachelor’s degree in Meteorology, Environment and Arid Land Agriculture from the Environmental Sciences faculty at King Abdul Aziz University (KAU) in Jeddah, from which he graduated in 2002.  He spent a year after graduation working as an instructor in the same department at the university.  He went on to obtain a master’s degree from the Department of Biology at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada in 2006. His PhD also focused on biology, and he received it from the the University of Ottawa in Canada in 2012. On returning from Canada with his doctorate, Al-Ansari went back to work at KAU, where he was one of the leaders of the social committee and was the general supervisor of the Friends of the Environment”club from 2012 to 2013. In 2013, he also managed the graduate unit, before becoming head of the Department of Environmental Sciences, a position he held until 2015.  He remains an assistant professor at KAU, and is an adviser to the university’s vice president.