UAE team to attend Rio+20 summit

Top foreign and environmental delegates from the UAE will join more than 100,000 officials attending the Rio+20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro June 20-22. In a high-level delegation led by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, officials from Masdar in Abu Dhabi as well as the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, will showcase the UAE’s leading projects on environmental sustainability ranging from solar power and carbon capture to green cities and alternative energy. The Rio+20 Summit, known formally as the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, will focus on the future of sustainability, the green economy and new paths to creating a sustainable planet. United Nations organisers said ahead of the summit that, “a lot has been achieved in the past two decades from putting the health of the ozone layer back on track in order to spare the Earth from the sun’s deadly ultra violet rays to meeting the poverty-related Millennium Development goal on access to safe water. But the fact is that a lot remains to be done, it is at best a work in progress. “Far too many of the dials on the sustainability dashboard are or are heading into the red including the buildup of greenhouse gases to the plight of the world’s fisheries and youth unemployment,” said UN organisers in a statement. Saeed Mohammad Al Tayer, vice chairman of the DSCE, said the summit will help the UAE strengthen its environmental progress. “The participation of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy with the official UAE delegation in the Rio+ 20 Earth Summit and its accompanying exhibition falls in line with the “Green Economy For Sustainable Development” initiative announced by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, aiming to build a green economy in the UAE,” he said. “The UAE had a strong track record in sustainable development, and a good testimony to this is hosting the World Energy Forum 2012 in October in Dubai, which is a new addition and high value to strengthen the position of the UAE and Dubai in the march of energy as a global hub of energy economies and a remarkable centre for energy studies and research. This highlights the UAE’s attitude towards fossil fuel issues, clean and efficient alternative sources of energy, addressing climate challenges to achieve a sustainable future for all,” Al Tayer said.