ABU DHABI // The effect of rising populations on water, energy and food resources will be discussed in the capital on Monday.
The closed-door forum, aimed at government officials and researchers, is organised by the Australian-based Council of Arab-Australian Relations and is coordinated by the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) in partnership with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Among the speakers are representatives of Australian institutions such as Monash University, Murdoch University, the University of Sydney as well as the International Water Centre.
There is a growing need for planners to review the relationship between water, energy and food, said Grame Barty, general manager of international operations, growth and emerging markets at Austrade.
“We are entering into a more demanding environment than we have been in the past and ... we believe that we understand the connection of the three in a way that perhaps other countries have not had to,” said Mr Barty the day before the forum began.
With large parts of Australia being covered by arid or semi-arid land, the country is facing similar challenges to the UAE, he said. It lacks significant fresh water resources and, like the UAE, most of Australia’s population inhabits coastal cities.
“Almost all of our population is concentrated in three cities and almost entirely concentrated in ten cities, all in a coastal environment,” he said.
“We believe that there are probably no two other environments globally that have similar experiences than Australia and the Gulf countries,” Mr Barty said. “We believe this is an opportunity for us to bring and share our expertise and to create a collaboration between our two regions.”
Water reuse in homes and within cities, the use of renewable energy to power desalination plants and efficient agriculture irrigation technologies are some of the areas where Australian expertise may be relevant in the UAE, said Mr Barty.
The forum hopes to create opportunities for research collaboration, as well as “opportunities in sharing experiences in policy development” he said.
Australia is also hoping to showcase its relevant services and technology as well as education resources.
“We put a lot of effort into training in environmental sciences and in understanding how to better manage a strategic environment and we think we can share those educational experiences as well,” he said.
“It is not just a case of a commercial solution to sell technology, it is actually about sharing a much broader range, of a way of life in surviving as a society in an increasingly demanding environment.
“We hope what comes out of this is that we are meeting our technical and research and expert peers in the region and we are hoping, out of this, there will be a natural step for us to move forward.
“There are some institutions that already have linkages in the region but we would like to broaden that and create a more expansive link between the countries.”
The forum will move on to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
vtodorova@thenational.ae
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre, four-cylinder turbo
Transmission: seven-speed dual clutch automatic
Power: 169bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: Dh54,500
On sale: now
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
When is VAR used?
• Goals
• Penalty decisions
• Direct red-card incidents
• Mistaken identity
Company%C2%A0profile
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
What are NFTs?
Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.
You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”
This income will depend on future demand and use, which makes NFTs difficult to value. “However, there is a credible use case for many forms of intellectual property, notably art, songs, videos,” Mr Das says.
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The years Ramadan fell in May
