UAE marks Arab Water Day

Khaleej Times: The UAE under the leadership of the President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, is mobilising Arab, regional and international energies to develop and conserve water resources, Dr. Rashid Ahmed bin Fahad, Minister of Environment and Water, said on Saturday.

In remarks on the eve of the Arab Water Day, Bin Fahad said, the UAE hosted in January the International Water Summit which brought together policymakers, scientists and business leaders to tackle the urgent water and wastewater challenges facing arid regions.

The Arab Water Ministerial Council organises the Arab Water Day on 3rd March every year to urge Arab countries for more work towards achieving water security in the Arab Countries in the way towards sustainable development in the region.

“Acknowledging its water reality and scarce water resources for irrigation, drinking and development purposes, the UAE has made tremendous efforts to make water available for these goals including improving legislative and institutional frameworks that aim to conserve water resources in consistence with principles of integrated water management, conducting research on water resources development, managing and mitigating risks and challenges facing the water sector in terms of increasing demand and consumption, and analyzing the climate change negative impact on sectors like agriculture, water and the environment,” he added....

A water summit lauched by United Arab Emirates and Abu Dhabi

WAM (the United Arab Emirates): His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces has launched the International Water Summit to be held alongside the World Future Energy Summit in January 2013.

UAE Minister of Environment and Water, Dr. Rashid Ahmad Bin Fahad, Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, CEO of Masdar, and Dr. Glen Daigger, President of the International Water Association (IWA) held a press conference at the World Future Energy Summit today to make the announcement.

Dr. Rashid said: "As a result of the increased pressure on this valuable resource due to various factors including over population, agricultural and economic growth and the unsustainable consumption patterns, various countries around the world are currently facing real problems with water resources. Moreover, climate change has increased the pressure on this resource as well. Therefore, this launch - as a result of our visionary leadership's drive towards achieving water security - helmed by President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan - will shed a real light on the subject.

Dr. Sultan Ahmed al Jaber said: "based on the directives of His Highness General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, the launch of the International Water Summit and its bid to face the most pressing challenges facing the world today - is a testament to the UAE's role in shedding light on today's relevant subjects and a clear testimony to thought leadership." Emphasizing the clear directives laid by His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed when he recently stated "water is more important than oil in the United Arab Emirates," Dr Al Jaber, called the statement a bold and clear signal - that an economy based on oil - is placing water at the topmost of its agenda; adding that His Highness also made a clear call to action: that we need to enhance and increase the studies and research necessary, create strategic action plans, and find solutions to preserving this invaluable resource for future generations....

Abu Dhabi as seen by the SPOT satellite, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Red Crescent increases aid to flood victims in Pakistan

Gulf News (United Arab Emirates): The UAE Red Crescent Authority (RCA) says it is intensifying its efforts to assist people affected by the floods in Pakistan. The RCA distributed large amounts of food and relief materials such as blankets and tents, as well as heating equipment to thousands of families in the Dadu and Johi districts in the Sindh region of Pakistan.

The RCA said it intensified its efforts to provide more relief to people affected by the floods during the winter season. It is also considered the only humanitarian organisation still present in these areas and continues to provide aid despite the difficult terrain and bad climate conditions.

Saleh Al Jaberi, official in charge of RCA operations in Pakistan, supervised the distribution of rice, flour, cooking oil, lentils, canned food and dates, as well as the distribution of winter clothing, blankets and heating equipment to needy families….

Water ‘essential’ to UAE security

Tamsin Carlisle in the National (Abu Dhabi): An adequate supply of clean, fresh water is vital to the security of the UAE and the entire MENA [Middle East-North Africa] region, according to the director of the Abu Dhabi-based Arab Water Academy. “Water security means also food security, energy, climate change. It is tightly linked to crucial security issues,” says Dr Asma el Kasmi, the first director of the two-year-old academy. “This region will be the most strongly hit by the effects of climate change on water. If we do nothing, it’s not only the problems of the water manager, it will really affect overall security.”

Yet the UAE, which is one of the world’s most arid countries, holds the dubious distinction of being among the biggest per capita water users and the leading per capita consumer of bottled water. Both statistics are troubling to Dr el Kasmi, a Moroccan scientist who earned PhDs from French and US universities and was a chemistry professor before applying her intellect to solving regional water problems…

Satellite view of the United Arab Emirates

Strategic planning for climate impacts in the United Arab Emirates

Silvia Radan in the Khaleej Times (United Arab Emirates): Based on a report on ‘Climate Change - Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation in UAE’ published recently, the Environment Agency — Abu Dhabi (EAD) has come up with recommendations of measures to be taken in order to deal with changes that could be brought about by climate change. Commissioned, researched and written by EAD and a team of experts led by William Dougherty, senior scientist at the Stockholm Environment Institute — US centre, the study has already been sent to the United Nations 
Convention on Climate Change.

Focusing on UAE only, three of the most threatening outcomes of climate change have been studied in the report – rise in sea level, water resources and dry land ecosystems. The results say that 85 per cent of UAE’s population living on the coast and more than 90 per cent of the infrastructure also lying along the seashores, the country’s economy and general well-being is at risk even from a one-metre rise in sea level.

Two plausible sea level rise scenarios for the years 2050 and 2100 were studied in the report. In the first case (year 2050), the sea levels may rise between one and three metres, depending on the speed of polar ice melting, while in the second, the predictions are between two and nine metres. “Depending on the sea level rise scenario, total land area inundated in the UAE ranges from 1,155 square km to almost 5,000 square km, or roughly between one and six per cent of the country’s total land area,” the report said.

The results would, of course, imply the loss of marine eco-systems. Therefore, UAE policy makers have already started working on “adaptation” measures. “The report will help us receive new environmental technologies from the UN,” said Majid Al Mansouri, secretary general of EAD. “The Abu Dhabi Municipality is planning new buildings regulations, creating higher basements of about three metres that would cope with flooding,” said Al Mansouri….