Abu Dhabi: Countries will drown if environment data on climate change is not shared between countries and authorities, an official said on Monday.
“Some entities prefer not to make their environment-related data available to others for political or financial reasons, among others. Environment is the one field where transparency is absolutely necessary between countries or major disasters will occur,” said Ahmad Baharoon, Acting Director of Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) and Executive Director of the Environmental Science, Information and Outreach Sector at the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD).
The official was speaking during a press briefing ahead of the Eye on Earth Summit which is set to take place from today (Tuesday) until Thursday in Abu Dhabi, where the importance of exchanging environment-related information between countries is going to be one of the highlights.
Additionally, a system to classify waste across the country is currently being designed, officials announced.
“Due to the lack of crucial information, we were unable to set policies in place for waste classification but now we’re working with a number of entities to come up with a way to do so on the Federal level,” Mohammad Ahmad Ba Sahel, Senior Policy Analyst, Environment Policy and Planning Department, Integrated Environment Policy and Planning Sector at the EAD.
“Through the Eye on Earth summit we are hoping to break the silence between countries who are not talking to each other and encourage them to open up to the world. We had launched eight initiatives during Eye on Earth 2011 including the Global Network of Networks which includes 70 stakeholders including government organisations, NGOs and private institutions,” Baharoon said.
“Frankly we have overstayed our welcome on Earth. If we were living on separate planets then maybe we could afford to withhold information from one another but the fact is that we all need to share our planet and preserve it,” he added.
