The UAE Council for Climate Change and Environment today held its second meeting of 2020, chaired by Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment.

During the virtual gathering, the participants examined multiple topics. As a first order of business, they explored the impact of COVID-19 precautionary measures on air quality in the UAE. Through its 52 monitoring stations distributed across the country, the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) recorded a drop in the concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2).

The decline varied between different areas, ranging from 10% to 71%. Overall, the average reduction across the UAE between February 1 and April 30, 2020, amounted to 30%.

The participants recommended continued monitoring of air quality data, as the precautionary measures are still in place, in addition to coordinating with sectors that have the highest impact on air quality to review their processes in line with post-COVID-19 green recovery plans.

Further topics included updating the UAE’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). Set to consolidate the country’s status as a global leader of climate action, the exercise will involve creating models to predict how current climate efforts will affect emissions by 2030.

The Council members also discussed the activation of the online Biosecurity Early Notification System, accessible at
https://biosecalert.ae.

The unified national platform enables the public to report suspected cases of emerging epidemic threats and foodborne diseases with the aim of facilitating and expediting early identification and verification of outbreaks. MOCCAE developed the Biosecurity Early Notification System to detect and contain suspected epidemics and establish a database of notifications to inform biosecurity decision making.

Furthermore, the attendees reviewed the first edition of the procedure manual of the Biosecurity Early Notification System, developed by MOCCAE, to agree on an execution roadmap with stakeholders in line with the National Biosecurity Strategy, adopted by the UAE Cabinet in 2013 under the theme ‘Integrated Biosecurity’.

In closing, the participants highlighted the Ministry’s role in liaising with the concerned authorities to keep track of the desert locust situation in the UAE.