Ministry signs protocol to protect environment

Dubai: A 'Green Life Protocol' was signed on Saturday by the minister of environment and water and LG Electronics to promote better environment practices in the public and private sectors.

The environmental pledge for preservation and sustainability was signed by the Ministry of Environment and Water, LG Electronics, United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the International Association for Human Values (IAHV).

Speaking at the conference Marcel Alers, principal technical advisor on climate change for the United Nations Development Programme reiterated the damage climate change would cause in the region. Despite little data, higher temperatures, some increased summer rainfall and higher evaporation would occur.

Flaws

"The models we have to predict climate change still contain some flaws and there is a high level of uncertainty. There is more data for Europe and the US but for here it is trickier," he said.

Alers added that UNDP would look into having a permanent representative in the UAE to source clean development mechanism projects to urge developing countries to invest in the UAE, bringing vital clean energy technologies to the region.

CDM projects suitable for the region all point towards solar power, he said. "We are in the solar sun belt so solar technology is obvious but it is still very expensive. Carbon financing could bring down the cost. Solar thermal should be used here, it should be mandatory - we know it works - it can be used on desalination plants," said Alers.

Speaking to Gulf News Rashid Bin Fahd, UAE's Minister of Environment and Water said cement factories would be investigated and monitored to reduce their impact on the environment. This comes after some heavy intervention and closures of quarries in recent months by the ministry.

In terms of air pollution Bin Fahd said the Environment Agency in Abu Dhabi and the MOEW would be collaborating to connect air quality monitoring devices to gather readings.

"I can't see it myself that it is worse here than anywhere else but we should wait for results," he said, commenting on lack of transparency concerning air pollution standards in the UAE.

The partnership with LG Electronics is a step towards more public-private partnerships.

According to Matt Spannagle, technical manager of millennium development goal carbon facility for the UNDP, financing should come from the private sector while policies and infrastructures emerge from governments.

Awareness: A success story

Francis Matthew, editor-at-large of Gulf News, highlighted the efforts currently underway by Gulf News at the Life's Green conference yesterday during the Local Best Practices presentations.

Campaigns led by Gulf News have pushed readers to think differently and tackle pollution issues, he said. With fortunes spent on development in the country - the UAE needs to be sustainable, said Matthew, something the paper has repeatedly reported on.

"Our campaigns are deliberately planned, from the Go Green campaign to the whale shark, it is a conscious policy to follow up on a whole range of stories," he said.

The launch of the Say No to Plastic Bag campaign culminated to the distribution of jute bags to subscribers from Gulf News. Impacts of the campaigns have inspired many schools to create their own environment groups and pushed retailers to find their own solutions to the current plastic pollution problem in the UAE.