Decarbonising infrastructure developments and more efficient use of precious water resources are needed to reduce carbon emissions and develop a greener economy, a top government official told the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week conference.
“Today, as we rebuild our world in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we recognise more than ever the need to decarbonise our infrastructures, to promote sustainable consumption and production of essential resources, and to enhance our resilience to climate change,” Awaidha Murshed Al Marar, chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy, said during an opening keynote address to this year's conference.
Mr Al Marar said water use, specifically, is something that needs to be addressed to improve sustainability. "By improving water management and water production efficiencies, we can improve resilience to climate change and maximise the provision of a sufficient supply of potable water on a global scale," he said.
Global water use has increased six-fold over the past century and global water demand is rising by about 1 per cent each year, Mr Al Marar said, citing the 2020 UN World Water Development Report. This trend is expected to continue until 2050, he added.
The UAE and other GCC countries mainly rely on desalination plants to meet water demand. The Emirates is the second-largest producer of desalinated water globally after Saudi Arabia, producing about 14 per cent of the world’s desalinated water, he said.
“While we continue to expand our water infrastructure and build new desalination plants, we recognise the environmental impact of desalination and, therefore, we capitalise on continued innovation in desalination technologies, brine reduction techniques and new water demand management strategies.”
Abu Dhabi has nine desalination plants with a total capacity of up to 960 million imperial gallons per day.
“Four of our current desalination plants in Abu Dhabi utilise Reverse Osmosis technology and represent around 15 per cent of the emirate’s desalinated water production. This share is expected to grow to 30 per cent by 2022, when the new Dh2 billion RO desalination facility at the Al Taweelah Power Complex comes online.”
Reverse osmosis is a process where water flows through a membrane that separates out heavier sediments and salts. Desired minerals like calcium and magnesium are also added to the filtered water before packaging or transporting it for consumption. Many Gulf nations have switched to this process over the past decade as it is less energy intensive than traditional methods.
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
Lexus LX700h specs
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Seemar’s top six for the Dubai World Cup Carnival:
1. Reynaldothewizard
2. North America
3. Raven’s Corner
4. Hawkesbury
5. New Maharajah
6. Secret Ambition
MATCH INFO
Manchester United v Everton
Where: Old Trafford, Manchester
When: Sunday, kick-off 7pm (UAE)
How to watch: Live on BeIN Sports 11HD
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
GROUPS
Group Gustavo Kuerten
Novak Djokovic (x1)
Alexander Zverev (x3)
Marin Cilic (x5)
John Isner (x8)
Group Lleyton Hewitt
Roger Federer (x2)
Kevin Anderson (x4)
Dominic Thiem (x6)
Kei Nishikori (x7)
Gertrude Bell's life in focus
A feature film
At one point, two feature films were in the works, but only German director Werner Herzog’s project starring Nicole Kidman would be made. While there were high hopes he would do a worthy job of directing the biopic, when Queen of the Desert arrived in 2015 it was a disappointment. Critics panned the film, in which Herzog largely glossed over Bell’s political work in favour of her ill-fated romances.
A documentary
A project that did do justice to Bell arrived the next year: Sabine Krayenbuhl and Zeva Oelbaum’s Letters from Baghdad: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Gertrude Bell. Drawing on more than 1,000 pieces of archival footage, 1,700 documents and 1,600 letters, the filmmakers painstakingly pieced together a compelling narrative that managed to convey both the depth of Bell’s experience and her tortured love life.
Books, letters and archives
Two biographies have been written about Bell, and both are worth reading: Georgina Howell’s 2006 book Queen of the Desert and Janet Wallach’s 1996 effort Desert Queen. Bell published several books documenting her travels and there are also several volumes of her letters, although they are hard to find in print. Original documents are housed at the Gertrude Bell Archive at the University of Newcastle, which has an online catalogue.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
The biog
Name: Younis Al Balooshi
Nationality: Emirati
Education: Doctorate degree in forensic medicine at the University of Bonn
Hobbies: Drawing and reading books about graphic design
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