The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) is organizing a series of stakeholder workshops on climate change adaptation in the energy and infrastructure sectors at its headquarters in Dubai Academic City. Around 100 stakeholders representing federal and local authorities, academia, and other related entities convened to attend the workshops that will continue for four-days, starting today.
The workshops are being organized as part of the implementation of the National Climate Change Plan 2050, which was approved by the Cabinet in June 2017. One of the three pillars of the Climate Plan is dedicated to climate change adaptation, which aims at better preparation for and building resilience to the potential local impacts caused by global climate change.
MOCCAE is currently working with the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) on the assessment of climate risks to the four key sectors most important to the country’s sustainable, climate-resilient future – health, energy, infrastructure, and the environment. Following the assessment of the health sector, the team is compiling available evidence on potential climate change impacts on the UAE’s power supply and transport and coastal infrastructure as well as the existing measures in place, and the capability of authorities and stakeholders to cope with the impacts. The collected information is preliminarily analyzed according to an original risk assessment framework developed from international best practices.
The workshops aim to inform the stakeholders of the initial results and gain insights on their understanding and readiness on climate change adaptation to refine the analysis. They are also set to examine priority adaptation measures and the best ways to plan concrete initiatives and roadmaps.
Dr William Dougherty, President of the Climate Change Research Group based in Boston, Massachusetts, was invited to provide an overview of linkages between climate change and energy and infrastructure, review the sectoral risk assessment, and facilitate the stakeholder discussions.
In the opening remarks, Fahed Mohamed Al Hammadi, the Ministry’s Acting Assistant Undersecretary for Green Development and Climate Change, noted: “We cannot ignore or underplay the necessity and urgency of adapting to climate change as doing so may hamper our development efforts if we don’t prepare now.
“A climate-resilient and sustainable future cannot be realized overnight and a concerted effort from various sectors of our society is required. We continue to strive for engaging many stakeholders in the process of developing climate change adaptation actions and in their subsequent implementation.”
MOCCAE will continue with the assessment of the remaining environment sectors and aims to develop an action plan later this year.