Bin Fahad: UAE pays full attention to environment

Dr. Rashid Ahmed bin Fahad, Minister of Environment and Water, paid tribute to President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan for his kind patronage of the UAE’s 15th Environment Day, which falls on Saturday, 4th February 2012, and being celebrated this year under the theme “ Desert Pulses with Life”. In a statement on the eve of the UAE Environment Day, Dr. Rashid also thanked Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum for his relentless efforts to conserve, develop and invest the environment in a sustainable way and for introducing environmental factors in development projects. The minister asserted that the leadership’s concern for the environment was evidently demonstrated in the UAE Vision 2012 which called for nurturing a sustainable environment for quality living. Emiratis will enjoy the highest living standards, long and healthy lives, first-rate education and well-rounded lifestyles guaranteed by excellent public services and recreational activities, within a safe and rich natural and social environment. He also referred to the UAE’s Green Economy initiative unveiled recently by Shaikh Mohammed under the slogan ‘A green economy for sustainable development”. The Green Economy Initiative includes six major fields covering a wide range of legislation, policies, programs and projects : green energy, government policies, green city, climate change effects management, green life and green technology. “Shaikh Mohammed’s initiatives will definitely deliver a qualitative leap in strengthening the union structure to achieve social welfare, advance public health principles and management of natural resources through well-planned development policies and programmes,” he added. The UAE, he noted , had reclaimed vast desert areas to establish farms and artificial forests, therefore providing safe sanctuaries to many endangered species of fauna and flora. The ministry, he indicated, had, in coordination with local stakeholders, devised the national strategy for biodiversity and updated the national strategy for nature reserves and the national anti-desertification plan. A raft of surveys and studies, he added, were also conducted including the satellite and remote sensing survey on the vegetation cover with the aim of laying down a national strategy for grazing. Another survey on plant and animal species on environmentally-vulnerable zones was also done. These surveys will continue until 2013 and cover environments surrounding mountains and valleys in emirates Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah, Fujairah and Abu Dhabi. The main output of these projects, he said, will create a data base on environmentally-vulnerable zones and improve the UAE status in the World Environmental Performance Index (EPI). The ministry, he indicated, had, in coordination with local stakeholders, devised the national strategy for biodiversity and updated the national strategy for nature reserves and the national anti-desertification plan. “The Ministry is currently conducting the soil survey project in cooperation with the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi. The overall objective is to provide soil-related and map-based information for decision-makers and to promote sustainable and planned development through enhancing the available knowledge of soils,”he said, unveiling that the process for basic soil scapes had already completed and the final report and maps will be out by mid-year.