H.E. Eng. Mariam Mohammed Saeed Hareb, Acting Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry’s Water Resources and Nature Conservation Affairs, said: “The workshop falls in line with our efforts to help achieve UAE Vision 2021’s goal of a sustainable environment and the national biodiversity strategy. Moreover, the workshop aims to raise awareness on the values of biodiversity among the various sectors of society, integrating biodiversity into planning, decision making and policy development in local and national legislations which all helps to promote its sustainable use.”

 Eng. Hareb added that the initiative objectives are to identify the habitats , the natural resources and evaluate their servicec from the environmental and economic points of view , the results of this  initiative can be used by decision makers and stakeholders such as the business and finance sectors.  The workshop also supports scientific research and increase the awareness of the community. Furthermore, Eng. Hareb pointed out that the workshop is an essential tool to form a platform for consolidating the country’s efforts by collecting the relevant data and information from the government and private sectors, research centers, universities, and other concerned organizations. The session discussed the ‘UAE Smart Map of Natural Capital’ initiative and its key objectives and outputs and featured presentations of the ecosystem assessment results and the proposed nationwide plan for implementing the initiative.

 The Ministry of Environment and Water has been working on the National Blue Carbon project in cooperation with AGEDI and Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi. The project aims to raise awareness about blue carbon and its related ecosystems, as well as the importance of assessing the amount of carbon in coastal environments that will contribute to the UAE Natural Capital Map initiative.