The Dubai Future Foundation released a report reviewing 12 promising future opportunities in the sector to support global efforts to promote sustainability and address climate change.

The 28th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) will begin in Dubai in late November.

This report represents a special edition of the “Future Opportunities Report: 50 Global Opportunities”, which is published periodically, and covers the most important opportunities that nature conservation sectors can benefit from at the local, regional and global levels. Water resources, energy, agriculture, air quality, food, environmental protection, oceans, forests and ice sheets and others.

A panel of experts, researchers and innovators participated in the preparation of the report, sharing their experiences and future visions of 12 nature-related opportunities, all focused on achieving growth and prosperity and improving quality of life. The planet and its ecosystems.

Separator station

The United Nations Climate Leader of COP28, Razan Al-Mubarak, said: “This conference represents a turning point between the Paris Agreement and the 2030 targets, and the world must commit to achieving a qualitative shift in conservation efforts. The potential to avoid a global temperature increase beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius.

By putting nature at the heart of global efforts for global climate action, we have a tremendous opportunity to make the necessary radical progress. By protecting our ecosystems and their resources and restoring them in forests, through soils, to mangroves and oceans, we can achieve dramatic, reflective action in protecting our planet and human life. can.”

For his part, Khalfan Juma Belhole, CEO of Dubai Future Foundation, urged the world to unite the efforts of governments, companies and individuals to address the dire climate challenges.

Introducing the opportunities available in the fields of sustainability, environmental protection and climate is a very important means of determining priorities and shaping future plans to contribute to providing a better quality of life for future generations.

He added: “Through this report, we look forward to a set of future trends and changes that will bring about a radical change in our thinking, mindset, behavior and ideas. These opportunities will complement the dialogues. Through the Conference of the Parties (COP28), innovators to study these opportunities, concepts and ideas, Calling future designers, entrepreneurs and stakeholders to unleash the imagination towards more transformative ideas for a better future for ourselves and the planet.

Reconstructing nature

The first opportunity touched on by this report is the importance of phasing out excessive land use and the consequent reduction of vegetation cover in restoring biodiversity and natural ecosystems and mitigating risks from climate change.

Hoda Al-Shagha, Director of Strategy and Urban Planning at Zell Architects in the UAE, emphasized that this new concept of reviving natural lands and wildlife is a qualitative change in the relationship between nature and humans, and that many cities should witness the culture. A change that pushes their residents to appreciate the beauty of natural spaces, explore ways to protect and restore these spaces, and reduce the threats they face, such as overdevelopment, pollution and desertification.

Fixed resources

The report pointed out that the sustainability of water resources can be improved through proper planning of water recycling methods and its use in light of the seriousness of the challenges associated with water scarcity in various parts of the world.

Yusuke Maeda, president and CEO of Wota Box in Japan, said: There are many flexible solutions in this field, such as creating decentralized and small-scale systems for water reuse and recycling, combining built-in water recycling systems and independent control devices. .

These systems, which can be quickly constructed and operated, can provide high-quality water services using limited amounts of clean water in areas with water stress or poor infrastructure.

Don’t run out of energy

A third possibility focuses on the concept of nuclear fusion, which some scientists believe may be a suitable future solution to provide unlimited energy without causing carbon emissions and enough fuel to meet global demand for hundreds of years. Making a difference in the power generation sector.

Dr. from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Tony Rolston said: It is difficult to predict the expansion and production costs of nuclear fusion power because the fusion process is in its early stages of development. The costs of fusion energy basically depend on three main factors: the costs of building these complex and new systems, the availability of the system (i.e. the duration of energy generation) and the ability to transfer the heat produced by fusion. as usable energy.”

Ice cover restoration

Coordinated multidisciplinary efforts to restore Arctic ice sheets and glaciers above mountain peaks contribute to lowering global and ocean temperatures and reducing emissions of trapped methane gas into the atmosphere.

Francis Porter, senior director of sustainability at Mott MacDonald in the UAE, said: “Sea level is expected to rise by 4.62 mm annually from 2013 to 2022. According to the World Meteorological Organization, this rate is 40% faster than the period between 2003 and 2012.

This sea level rise is expected to impact the lives of people living in coastal areas. However, these effects can be mitigated through concerted efforts to restore ice cover and its thickness.

International Maritime Stations

One of the opportunities identified in the report revolves around the creation of a neutral international organization focused on protecting and restoring the health of the world’s marine ecosystems, maximizing the economic benefits associated with them, and supporting innovation that improves them.

Rebecca Hubbard, director of the High Seas Alliance, said: We are on the brink of a new era in which we will see the international governance of the oceans through the High Seas Treaty officially recognized by United Nations member states. June 19, 2023.

This is a qualitative improvement in the effort to protect the earth. The treaty provides the first legal framework to protect life in seas and international waters beyond national jurisdictions, and offers the first truly global opportunity to address the governance challenges that have damaged and overexploited oceans.

The report points out that now is the time to create a centennial plan for the development of planet Earth and to implement this plan within the framework of efforts to improve the lives of the world’s people. To achieve this, long-term global cooperation frameworks must be developed to restore ecosystems and promote and protect biodiversity.

Joanna Purchas-Hatfield, director of the Africa Sustainability Group, said: Long-term goals for restoring and maintaining environmental health must be aligned across all short-term frameworks, including clear, easy-to-implement roadmaps to set coherent global goals. Integrate efforts more effectively and reduce costs incurred by participating organizations to ensure compliance and reporting.

The climate is neutral

Achieving climate neutrality and net zero emissions is no longer an unattainable goal in light of the unprecedented technological achievements and global cooperation we are witnessing in this era. When this goal becomes a reality, ecosystems will restore their equilibrium.

Laila Mustafa Abdul Latif, Director General of Emirates Nature-WWF, said: “If we can reverse the current trajectory of ecosystem losses, this will help address many of the challenges of climate change.

Protecting nature and ensuring its protection improves its resilience, improves human quality of life and ensures the safety of the earth. Nature-based solutions represent one-third of the actions aimed at mitigating climate change by 2030, which will keep temperature rise below 2°C.

Advances in materials science, automation, and advanced machine intelligence may soon contribute to the possibility of absorbing emissions and fine particles on demand around the world.

Dr Diana Francis, head of the Environmental and Geophysical Sciences Laboratory at Khalifa University, said: “This technology can be used near emission sources in cities and industrial areas, so that fine particles are captured at the source before they are widely dispersed. For air pollution.

Immediate response

One of the most important opportunities discussed in the report is the establishment of forward-thinking decentralized legislative bodies that respond flexibly to the groups they support and the challenges they face.

Christine Morrison of the Global Green Growth Institute in the United Arab Emirates said: “These bodies will play a vital role in rapidly and comprehensively evaluating new technologies to help address environmental and climate imbalances, and finding appropriate legislation, such as banning old, ineffective ones. or environmentally harmful technologies.

Opportunities in the report include developing a digital climate assessment system that allows governments, companies and individuals to calculate environmental impact in real time, reveal the potential impacts of investment policies and choices, and paint a clearer picture of how our decisions affect the environment.

Pushpam Kumar, Senior Economic Adviser at the United Nations Environment Programme, said, “We need a guide to support countries that explain the potential impacts on future generations of some proposed policies on the use and investment of natural capital. Capacity to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

The most promising opportunities for protecting the climate and planet Earth are:

Phasing out excessive land use contributes to the restoration of biodiversity and natural ecosystems

Developing water recycling systems and proper planning for its use ensures improved sustainability of its resources

Technological development and strengthening global cooperation are the keys to success in achieving zero emissions

Modern climate technologies accelerate the development of on-demand and on-demand emissions and particulate air treatment applications.

Legal development is an important factor in managing and deploying technologies designed to help address environmental and climate challenges.

Developing a digital climate assessment system that will allow governments, companies and individuals to calculate environmental impact in real time

Advances in agricultural technology have reduced the need for large amounts of irrigation water