UAE | Environment
More efforts needed to save water, energy
Should involve both authorities and individuals
- By Hiba Haddad, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 July 1, 2010
- Ecosystems in Abu Dhabi include: coastal lagoons, rocky shores, sandy beaches, coral reefs, mangroves, sabkhas, and sea grass
- 36 different species reside in Abu Dhabi coral reefs
- 76 sq km area of mangrove habitat in the UAE, the second largest in the Arabian Peninsula
- Three species of sea grass in the UAE, 99 per cent of it found in Abu Dhabi
- Bu Tinah Island in Abu Dhabi is one of the 28 finalists for the New Seven Wonders of Nature
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Everybody is talking about saving water, using less energy, global warming, eco-friendly products. But what is all this, are people aware of the result of "saving water, just a drop" or "saving power energy". The authorities need to educate people, organize awareness programs, make people understand the importance of a DROP OF WATER in their life, let them practical know the cause of wasting water. They need to take a firm decision and not just discuss, put them in the file and lock it in the drawer, this is fact and what is happening, specially in this part of the world, I hope the authorities will take necessary step, before it is too late.
Jos Cardozo, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Abu Dhabi: Water is quickly becoming one of the most important natural sources in the world, and all can take a part in preserving it and managing it more effectively, a Water Days conference was told yesterday.
The two-day conference addressed the problem of high water consumption in the country, and several speakers presented proposals to dealing with the issue.
"The issue globally can be compared to the economic crisis, in that we are on an environmental credit card, we are using more than what is there. We only have one planet, and one planet's worth of resources. If everyone were to consume at a rate similar to levels in the UAE, we would require 4.5 planets to satisfy the consumption," Tanzeed Alam, manager for climate change and sustainability in Emirates Wildlife Society said. "Most of this comes from the energy and water sector," he added.
"Water consumption is at a rate of 550 litres consumed by a person a day. The UAE also has the fifth highest per capita energy consumption," Alam said.
Alam said the challenge for the UAE lies in balancing desalination practices [which requires electricity], and conserving energy.
"Particularly in Arab states, water production is limited, because if something were to occur to desalination plants [main source of clean water in many countries], it poses a serious problem," Mark Sutcliffe, from Unesco added.
Solutions for conserving water lie with authorities as well as individuals.
Compiling data
"Firstly, better data collection methods for water consumption need to be created, for water usage in all sectors [residential, commercial, and institutional]. Also, educational efforts...which is the key success of any water conservation efforts," Glenn Whaley, from RTI (Research Triangle Institute) International explained. "If you want to create tariffs on water usage, then you need to explain to people and make them aware of how paying more will actually benefit them over the long run," he added.
High efficiency products
"Codes and standards need to be implemented as well to help ensure that only high efficiency products are used in the different sectors," he added.
"When faced with the debate on environment and development, there is no simple answer. All the stakeholders have to be taken into account, and nobody can be excluded," Sutcliffe said. "We have had the industrial revolution, and then we had the Information Technology revolution. This [environmental] is a bigger revolution," he added.
Some UAE facts
(Source: Thabit Abdessalaam, Environmental Agency)
Do people misuse resources? Why do you think so? What do you do to conserve energy and water?
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