RIYADH — Fahad F. Bin Hithleen, founder and president of the International Camel Organization, welcomed the adoption of the International Year of Camelids 2024. This initiative was launched by the United Nations General Assembly following a recommendation by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). He pointed out that the goal of allocating a year for the camelids is to highlight this stock and its role in human life, in the field of food, transport, and coexistence. The United Nations has designated a year for the camelids within its policy of identifying and allocating years to specific themes, in order to lay focus and to turn the world’s attention to them. He added that the initiatives of the International Year of Camelids 2024 contribute to achieving the goals of the United Nations Sustainable Development. Bin Hithleen added that the Board of Director and Members of the ICO are keen on the existence of various programs and events that are in keeping with the initiative of the International Year of Camelids and the goals set by the United Nations. Most notable is the protection of terrestrial ecosystems, combating desertification, stopping land degradation and biodiversity loss, ensuring the provision of food security, improved nutrition, and sustainable agriculture, in cooperation with all relevant international organizations and associations, including the FAO. The initiative of the International Year of Camelids 2024 aims at the necessity of a deep change in the world food and agriculture system, as to feed 795 million hungry today, in addition to two billion other people expected by the year 2050. The ICO is a non-profit organization, headquartered in Riyadh, and founded by Bin Hithleen in March 2019. It currently comprising 105 member states of the six continents of the world, aiming to develop and uplift all that is related to camel as a legacy. — SG