A UAE delegation recently participated in the fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5) from February 22-23. The UAE delegation is comprised of senior officials from the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MoCCAE). This year's UNEA session was themed ‘Strengthening Actions for Nature to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals’.

Fahed Al Hammadi, Acting Assistant Under-Secretary of the Green Development and Climate Change Sector at MoCCAE, presented UAE's statement at a virtual session titled ‘Contribution of the Environmental Dimension of Sustainable Development to Building a Resilient and Inclusive Post-pandemic World’.

Speaking during the leadership dialogue, Al Hammadi highlighted the country's commitment towards integrating the environmental aspects of sustainable development in its post-pandemic recovery efforts.

"The COVID-19 pandemic should not slow us down in transitioning towards a resilient and inclusive green economy. Instead, it can catalyze the transition," he said.

Amid the ongoing recovery efforts, the UAE reinforced its commitment to climate action and submitted its enhanced Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement that calls attention to its goals towards climate mitigation and adaptation, Al Hammadi added.

He further noted that the UAE's second NDC reflects its ambition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 23.5 percent by the year 2030. The UAE also aims to strengthen its clean power capacity to 14 GW, increasing from just above 100 MW in 2015. The UAE has also shown commitment towards planting 30 million mangroves by 2030 in order to boost nature-based climate solutions and to conserve and enhance coastal blue carbon ecosystems.

"Given the country’s harsh desert climate and scarce water resources, we are also exploring innovative climate-smart agriculture, and exchanging knowledge and technology with our Arab neighbors facing similar challenges," Al Hammadi added.

He went onto underline details of the two historic policies recently adopted by the UAE - the UAE Environmental Policy aimed at implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); and the UAE Circular Economy Policy 2021-2031 that seeks to facilitate the optimization of resources and reduction of waste in order to boost sustainable production and consumption. The two policies are in line with the ongoing efforts of the UAE government towards green growth, biodiversity conservation, and environmental protection.

In conclusion, Al Hammadi called for international cooperation to protect the planet and support the high-risk communities as climate change intensifies across the world.

He affirmed the UAE's continuous commitment to play an active role in the international community to share expertise and resources in order to assist in the development of a resilient post-pandemic future.

WAM