UAE Urged to Take Action Against Climate Change

The United Nations Development Programme Climate Change Manager, Marcel Alers, said the Middle East and Africa would be impacted dramatically by changes in weather patterns induced by greenhouse gases.

“It’s already a rather warm part of the world and it will only get hotter,” Alers said. “We see rainfall patterns changing — for the Arabian peninsula, the summers will get wetter.”

However, Alers said these changes would only “exacerbate the water crisis,” mainly due to the temperature increase.

He also pointed to the predicted rise in sea levels of half a metre to one metre that are likely to affect coastal areas, such as the UAE. Alers said these potential impacts had motivated an international agreement for carbon emissions to be half their 1990 levels by 2050.

The UAE has received much attention for having one of the highest carbon emissions per capita, but Alers said the country’s global impact was relatively low.

“The intensity of carbon emissions is high but the absolute amount is limited. The total volume (of carbon emissions) is 3.8 per cent of the global volume.” One of the easiest ways to improve energy efficiency was through technology.

The LG Electronics EcoStrategy Team Vice-President, Dr Jong Min Shin, said a household’s upgrade to 2008 technology was the equivalent of planting 1400 cedar trees.

Furthermore, Dr Shin said the range of certified products that reduced emissions had grown by 40 per cent in the past three years. In the same period sales had also grown by 170 per cent. However, speakers at the conference also identified renewable energy as needed in the long term. The one-day conference, dedicated to finding solutions to global warming, was concluded with the signing of a pledge titled Green Life Protocol signed by the Minister of Environment and Water, Dr Rashid Ahmad bin Fahad.

The pledge aims at preserving the environment through sustainable lifestyle and development and Dr Fahad said it would pave the way for the partners involved to work on related projects in the future.

zoe@khaleejtimes.com