Today's Edition
RIYADH (WAM)
The UAE Pavilion opened this week at the 16th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Throughout the two-week conference, focused on “Our Land, Our Future,” programming at the UAE Pavilion will share insights on innovative solutions and collaborations to combat desertification and the importance of sustainable water management to regenerating ecosystems.
Amna bint Abdullah Al Dahak, Minister of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) and head of the UAE delegation at COP16, opened the pavilion with a celebration of the UAE’s 53rd Eid Al Etihad.
She also participated in two sessions discussing the enhancement of global and national policy tools for proactive drought management and the importance of public and private financing to boost land restoration and drought resilience.
During these sessions, Dr. Al Dahak highlighted the UAE’s vision and efforts to address drought challenges locally and globally, outlining the vital role these different initiatives play in enhancing global food and water security to address land degradation.
She affirmed the importance of international collaboration, including aligning financial support with global environmental goals, to accelerate the development of sustainable solutions, enabling the protection and restoration of land on a larger scale.
Expert-level convening commenced at the UAE Pavilion on Wednesday, December 4, 2024, emphasising the acceleration of innovation for effective, long-term ecosystem regeneration.
Key insights included the UAE start-up economy convening on “Scaling Regeneration to Combat Desertification and Address the Land-Water Nexus,” where Georges Ibrahim, General Manager at Dendra Systems, outlined how Dendra is working with the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD) to use drone technology and AI to support mangrove planting and restoration across the emirate.
Dr. Saeed Hassan Al Khazraji, the founder of Manhat, a deep-tech water start-up, explained the company’s innovative approach, inspired by nature’s water cycle, highlighting how “the company’s modular devices capture evaporated water directly from the source to produce pure, distilled water, decoupled from electricity,” making them sustainable and scalable solutions for agriculture and combating desertification.
Desert Control’s Chief Executive Officer, Ole Kristian Sivertsen, also discussed how “the innovation ecosystem in the UAE is almost like a community building exercise, connecting like-minded individuals to collaborate with different technologies to succeed.”
Discussions at the UAE Pavilion at COP16 also highlighted the significance of sustainable water management to combating desertification.
At “Harnessing Innovation for Water Management,” convened by the Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative (MBZWI), Dr. Lauren Greenlee, Executive Vice President of the Food, Water, and Waste Domain at XPRIZE, explained how the MBZWI Water Scarcity XPRIZE will encourage creative and innovative breakthroughs that enable widespread access to clean water while strengthening environmental protection and operational efficiency.
At the “National Water Resource Strategies,” moderated by Soma Matar’s Sheikh Dr. Majid Sultan Al Qassimi, EAD’s Dr. Mohamed Dawoud discussed how the Emirate of Abu Dhabi has “a variety of policies in place, from climate to food, that focus on preserving water resources, now with more than 4,000 greenhouses to accelerate innovation in agriculture.”
Ayesha Al Ateeqi, MBZWI Executive Director, highlighted how “water impacts everything from forced migration to water-related conflicts and economic growth,” calling for increased coordinated global responses to strengthen water resiliency.
Upcoming dialogues at the UAE Pavilion at COP16 will focus on innovating future food systems, regenerative agriculture, biosaline agriculture in arid climates, the role of data in advancing sustainable strategies, youth convenings, strengthening water resiliency, and a deeper look at biodiversity across the UAE.
Participants in upcoming programming include MOCCAE, the Zayed International Foundation for the Environment, the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture, the Arab Youth Center, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, and other innovators and researchers from across the UAE. The UAE Pavilion will also host an update on the road to the 2026 UN Water Conference, which will be co-hosted by the UAE and Senegal in December 2026.
The UAE Pavilion at COP16 is located in the Blue Zone and is open daily throughout the conference.
