He said: “The Council convenes every quarter to help find solutions to crucial environmental challenges the UAE faces, with particular emphasis on climate change. As 2018 draws to a close, the focus of our meeting today was to take stock of the key developments of the year.”

The UAE Air Quality Index and the UAE Green Dashboard were the first topics on the agenda. The Council members assessed the progress of the two initiatives and discussed opportunities for improvement.

Next, the attendees reviewed the outcomes of the 13^th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (COP13), hosted by MOCCAE in October 2018 under the theme ‘Wetlands for a Sustainable Urban Future’. With three UAE-led resolutions passed and the UAE elected as COP President for the next three years, COP13 was a resounding success.

The program included a presentation of the findings of the comprehensive assessment of climate change risks to key sectors in the UAE, conducted by MOCCAE in line with the National Climate Change Adaptation Program. The exercise identified direct and indirect climate-induced risks to the health, infrastructure, energy, and environment sectors, as well as existing and potential adaptation measures.

The Council members also received a briefing on the activities and turnout of this year’s edition of the ‘My Environment, My National Responsibility’ fair, organized by MOCCAE in November 2018 at the Sheikh Zayed Desert Learning Centre in Al Ain. Furthermore, they addressed the performance of the Ecotourism UAE app and discussed ways of enhancing its features to drive more traffic.

Other topics tabled at the meeting included the school gardening competition, the 2018 survey of environmental awareness and behavior in the UAE, and the ban on the trade, possession, and use of birdcall-imitating devices that targeted hunters.