UAE national environmental coordination committee reviews state of the environment

Dr. Rashid Ahmed bin Fahad, Minister of Environment and Water, has chaired the 8th meeting of the National Environmental Coordination Committee, which was dedicated to reviewing the state of environment in the UAE. The meeting discussed the nature reserve index which defines the ratio of nature reserve to the State's total area according to the Prime Minister Office's strategy for 2014-2016. Among issues tackled during the meeting were the current state of nature reserves, the possibility of declaring new nature reserves and international relevant conventions. Agenda of the meeting also included topics related to protection of the vegetation cover, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list of endangered plant species in the UAE. Taking a look at the UAE rankings in the international environment indexes, the meeting noted the the progress of the UAE in the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) from 152 in 2010 to 77 in 2012. The government expects the UAE to make significant advances in 2014 to be among the top 30th ranks. The meeting also reviewed the strategic plan of the Ministry of Environment and Water for 2014-2016.