Today's Edition
ALLAN JACOB (DUBAI)
Burning calories and counting steps at COP28 prove that walking and cycling (you can hire a bike too) can be a healthy and affordable way to save the environment and improve the quality of life as the world deliberates ways to cut CO2 emissions while bringing down temperatures.
The sun was still blazing in the afternoon at Expo City Dubai on Saturday, but e-buggies are at hand to take people to their destinations, to the zones of their choice. Expo City Dubai is indeed a living and breathing example of a sustainable city: look, no cars, and the frenzy of traffic! But Masdar City in Abu Dhabi started it all in 2006 – the first city in the Middle East to be built with sustainability and renewables in mind. COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber was the man behind the pioneering urban centre and his effort is now bearing fruit at the climate summit in the UAE with calls growing louder for green infrastructure that supports truly sustainable cities.
So, if the UAE can do it, others can too, say advocates of an active lifestyle who are more vocal at this climate conference. They have a point as they press for more investments into laying more cycling and walking paths in booming urban centres and cities of the future that are being planned around the world. The UAE has been an early mover in the Middle East for a healthy and sustainable lifestyle with Abu Dhabi and Dubai having invested in walking and cycling infrastructure that covers hundreds of kilometres. Abu Dhabi has rapidly expanded its cycling and walking paths since 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the latest figures from the Integrated Transport Centre (ITC) of Abu Dhabi’s Department of Municipalities and Transport (DMT), the network of cycling and walking tracks in the Emirate is now 1,015-kilometres long. Abu Dhabi city and its suburbs have 680km of these tracks, while Al Ain and its suburbs have 265km; 70km is in the Al Dhafra region.
In 2021, the Union Cycliste Internationale, or UCI, the governing body of cycling, overseeing the rules, regulations and development of the sport, designated Abu Dhabi as an official “Bike City”. The Emirate has poured over $450 million into cycling tracks whose length and enthusiasts continue to increase as it burnishes its sustainability credentials. Dubai, earlier this year, spelt out plans to extend its cycling and walking tracks with a 93-km long air-conditioned stretch to beat the summer heat and help commuters connect to public transport hubs that include buses, metro and taxis.
While Abu Dhabi and Dubai are going the distance when it comes to cycling and walking as a healthy and clean commuting alternative, experts believe there is a need to do more to get people moving the sustainable way in the Middle East and in South Asia. It’s a question of getting back to basics, they said. They have banded under the Partnership for Active Travel and Health (PATH) coalition that seeks to raise awareness among city-planners and dwellers about creating and using the right infrastructure the right way for safe and effective walking and cycling commutes. There’s a crying need to pick solutions that are in plain sight, they said.
PATH has leading organisations in the sustainable mobility community who collaborate to promote walking and cycling globally. It is composed of the FIA Foundation, Walk21, the European Cyclists’ Federation and the UN Environment Programme.
“PATH seeks to raise awareness of walking and cycling as a quick, affordable and reliable way to decarbonise transport while improving people’s health and lives,” said Jill Warren, CEO of the European Cyclists’ Federation.
Although walking and cycling are the most sustainable modes of transport that exist, they remain under-prioritised and under-invested in the mobility mix, she added.
In a letter to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, PATH has called on governments and negotiators to prioritise and invest more in walking and cycling. Enabling more people to walk and cycle safely is a quick, affordable and reliable way to help reduced emissions by 50%, the letter said.
“I believe we exceeded 400 signatures yesterday evening,” said Warren who believes there’s still a long way to go to make countries join the walking and cycling revolution that is being fronted by the UAE as the world makes the transition to cleaner modes of transport.
The UAE is literally walking the talk on sustainability. It’s time for other countries to follow suit and get moving on their commitments for a cleaner world.
