Development objectives at risk without course correction

Heat, water stress, heavy rainfall, dust and sand storms pose hazards

Climate change poses serious threats to the UAE’s growth if further steps are not taken to build upon strong global-warming action plans in the country, asserts a newly released National Climate Change Plan of the United Arab Emirates.

As already noted by the Emirates Wildlife Society-World Wildlife Fund (EWS-WWF)earlier this year, the UAE is not immune from increasing global warming temperatures and the effects of rising carbon emissions around the globe. An EWS-WWF report in March warned that a two per cent temperature increase in the UAE combined with a 10 per cent rise in humidity by 2050 would exact a heavy toll on at least a dozen sectors across the country.

The new UAE climate plan released on Tuesday confirmed that “climate modelling indicates a clear future trend of a warmer climate in the UAE” with an “average annual temperature rise of approximately 1 C by 2020 and 1.5-2 C by the 2040s”.

“The climate-associated hazards pose a huge threat to the UAE’s efforts for achieving the Vision 2021. Climate-associated hazards include heat, water stress, heavy rainfall, as well as dust and sand storms. If left unchecked, climate change could slow down the UAE’s growth momentum and even compromise the development gains of the past,” stated the climate plan.

The climate plan further acknowledged that results of “local climate change studies and research show that climate change could have implications on the UAE’s development objectives. Direct impacts of extreme weather events as well as slow-onset phenomena such as sea level rise could disrupt the daily functioning of transport and infrastructure, impact the value of real estate, affect environmental assets, and damage the tourism industry.

“If climate change is left unmanaged, consequences will be felt across the nation and could slow down the UAE’s efforts toward economic diversification.”