The UAE plans to make the fight against climate change a centrepiece of its agenda when it assumes a seat on the UN Security Council next year.
Lana Nusseibeh, the UAE's ambassador to the UN, issued a call on Tuesday for member states to take more steps to mitigate climate change, deliver on their commitments under the Paris accord and boost multilateral spending on climate adaptation.
“We also see that the timeline is getting shorter and shorter,” Ms Nusseibeh said during a virtual Atlantic Council panel detailing the UAE’s climate strategy.
She framed it as a global security and women’s rights issue, emphasising that climate change leads to more natural disasters with adverse humanitarian consequences — with women particularly hard hit.
“This dual economy, security, gender approach on climate is really a pillar of our foreign policy as well as our multilateral engagement. And you’ll hear us talking a lot about it as we join the [UN Security Council] on January 1.”
The UAE has also placed a bid to host the annual UN climate conference in 2023. This year’s climate conference is set to begin on Sunday in Glasgow, Scotland.
Before the summit, the UAE has pledged to reduce its carbon emissions 23.5 per cent by 2030. It also announced this month that it intends to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, becoming the first country in the region to pledge to do so.
Ms Nusseibeh highlighted increased floods in island nations such as Kiribati, intense and more frequent hurricanes in the Caribbean and severe drought in places such as Africa’s Lake Chad region to illustrate the need for robust global emissions reductions.
“All of our indications and our horizon scanning unfortunately — without being too much of a doomsayer — is that these trends are going to increase,” said Ms Nusseibeh.
“We’re particularly aware of that in the Middle East, where we have the least water and the highest temperatures.”
Cop26 president Alok Sharma has pushed countries to submit ambitious emissions reductions goals before the summit to mitigate some of the most disastrous effects of climate change by keeping global warming to 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels.
However, the BBC reported last week on leaked documents that show some wealthy countries have balked at providing aid to developing countries to help them transition to clean energy technologies.
The documents also revealed that certain wealthy countries have lobbied the conference to play down the need to move away from fossil fuels to decrease emissions.
Mariam Al Mheiri, UAE Minister for Climate Change and Environment, noted that the emirates first decided to diversify its economy by transitioning away from oil and natural gas 15 years ago.
“We want to be on the crest of that wave, not under it,” Ms Al Mheiri said at the Atlantic Council panel.
“That’s a decision that we took 15 years ago to explain why this seemingly counterintuitive policy became such a driving part of our foreign policy and our perspective globally.”
However, she emphasised that the move to clean energy is a transition, “meaning we can’t just switch off a tap".
“There is still a global demand for oil and gas,” Ms Al Mheiri said.
“As we ramp up the renewable energy, we’ll also be ramping down oil and gas production. But at the moment, there’s still a global need, so we will still be supplying.”
Ms Al Mheiri, who is also Minister of State for Food Security, highlighted how the UAE is taking steps to shield itself against the effects of climate change, particularly its impact on the global food supply chain. The UAE imports more than 90 per cent of its food.
She noted that the UAE is “looking into things like how we can or what we could grow” in the emirates while diversifying supply chains and reducing food loss and waste.
“We’re hoping that the UAE is not just a hub of free trade, which we are and which we want to continue,” she said.
“But we also want to become the hub for knowledge and innovation and how to grow foods in hot, arid climates like the UAE and share this knowledge with others who are suffering the same conditions as we are.”
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Three-day coronation
Royal purification
The entire coronation ceremony extends over three days from May 4-6, but Saturday is the one to watch. At the time of 10:09am the royal purification ceremony begins. Wearing a white robe, the king will enter a pavilion at the Grand Palace, where he will be doused in sacred water from five rivers and four ponds in Thailand. In the distant past water was collected from specific rivers in India, reflecting the influential blend of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology on the coronation. Hindu Brahmins and the country's most senior Buddhist monks will be present. Coronation practices can be traced back thousands of years to ancient India.
The crown
Not long after royal purification rites, the king proceeds to the Baisal Daksin Throne Hall where he receives sacred water from eight directions. Symbolically that means he has received legitimacy from all directions of the kingdom. He ascends the Bhadrapitha Throne, where in regal robes he sits under a Nine-Tiered Umbrella of State. Brahmins will hand the monarch the royal regalia, including a wooden sceptre inlaid with gold, a precious stone-encrusted sword believed to have been found in a lake in northern Cambodia, slippers, and a whisk made from yak's hair.
The Great Crown of Victory is the centrepiece. Tiered, gold and weighing 7.3 kilograms, it has a diamond from India at the top. Vajiralongkorn will personally place the crown on his own head and then issues his first royal command.
The audience
On Saturday afternoon, the newly-crowned king is set to grant a "grand audience" to members of the royal family, the privy council, the cabinet and senior officials. Two hours later the king will visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred space in Thailand, which on normal days is thronged with tourists. He then symbolically moves into the Royal Residence.
The procession
The main element of Sunday's ceremonies, streets across Bangkok's historic heart have been blocked off in preparation for this moment. The king will sit on a royal palanquin carried by soldiers dressed in colourful traditional garb. A 21-gun salute will start the procession. Some 200,000 people are expected to line the seven-kilometre route around the city.
Meet the people
On the last day of the ceremony Rama X will appear on the balcony of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall in the Grand Palace at 4:30pm "to receive the good wishes of the people". An hour later, diplomats will be given an audience at the Grand Palace. This is the only time during the ceremony that representatives of foreign governments will greet the king.
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