Another Publication now online!

We are very pleased to share our Principle Investigators publication released on the findings from our Abu Dhabi Blue Carbon demonstration phase. Ā Congratulations to the team!

Publication: Carbon Storage in Seagrass Beds of Abu Dhabi (5796 downloads )

Abstract ā€œBlue Carbonā€ initiatives have highlighted the significant role of seagrasses in organic carbon (Corg) burial and sequestration. However, global databases on the extent of Cstocks in seagrass ecosystems are largely comprised of studies conducted in monospecific beds from a limited number of regions, thus potentially biasing global estimates. To better characterize carbon stocks in seagrass beds of varying structure and composition, and to further expand the current ā€œBlue Carbonā€ database to under-represented regions, we evaluate the extent of Corg stocks in the relatively undocumented seagrass meadows of the Arabian Gulf. Surveys were conducted along the coast of Abu Dhabi (UAE) and encompassed sites ranging from sheltered embayments to offshore islands. Seagrass beds consisted of Halodule uninervis, Halophila ovalis and Halophila stipulacea.While seagrasses were widely distributed along the coast, both living and soil Corg storesĀ were relatively modest on an areal basis. Total seagrass biomass ranged from 0.03 to 1.13 Mg C haāˆ’1, with a mean of 0.4Ā±0.1 (Ā±SEM), and soil Corg stocks (as estimated over the top meter) ranged from 1.9 to 109 Mg C haāˆ’1, with aĀ mean of 49.1Ā±7.0 (Ā±SEM). However, owing to the expansive distribution of seagrasses in the Arabian Gulf, seagrass ā€œBlue Carbonā€ stocks were large, with 400 Gg C stored in living seagrass biomass and 49.1 Tg C stored in soils. Thus, despite low Corg stores for any given location, the overall contribution of seagrass beds to carbon storage are relatively large given their extensive coverage. This research adds to a growing global dataset on carbon stocks and further demonstrates that even seagrass beds dominated by small-bodied species function to store carbon in coastal environments.

Don’t forget to also visit our UAE Blue Carbon Toolkit to interact with the data and findings.Ā The tool has been designed to be simple to use and provide a rapid overview of the approximate total carbon stock value for a selected area of interest. This information is further broken down to provide information on the contribution of each ecosystem to the total carbon stock of the selected area.

Publication on blue carbon for UAE now published!

The AGEDI team is happy to share its latest publication on blue carbon storage in the UAE entitled “Limits on carbon sequestration in arid blue carbon ecosystems”.

We believe that this publication details why coastal ecosystems are so valuable to protection of our shorelines as well as how we can support mitigation towards climate change.

The technical reports are also available through our “for you” area of the website.

Publication: Limits on carbon sequestration in arid blue carbon ecosystems (5393 downloads )

Recognition as Women of Blue Carbon

We are incredibly proud to announce that H.E. Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak and Jane Glavan two of our extremely competent colleagues have been featured in GEF Blue Forestsā€™ International Womenā€™s Day Campaign, Women of Blue Carbon. They have shown leadership in the field of Blue Carbon, Ā from community engagement to the international sphere, and from […]

Want to find out how to plan given uncertainty of sea level rise? Come join us March 15th

We are very pleased to continue the AGEDI Regional Symposium for its final day. Ā We will be discussing planning given the uncertainty of sea level rise, food security and public health co benefits of reducing green house gas emissions!

To register for online access please click –Ā https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6812098338322318083

Otherwise come join us at Al mamoura A auditorium 9am, March 15th!

(4251 downloads )

Register for Online Access! Day 3 Regional Climate Change Symposium

Local, National and Regional Climate Change Programme Symposium Day 3: Socio-Economic and Next Steps
Join us for a live-streaming webinar on March 15, 2017
All registrants will receive a link to the recording ā€“ so please register even if you cannot attend the live event.
The AGEDI Local, National and Regional Climate Change Programme (LNRCCP) was launched in 2013 with the aim of establishing a climate change work programme that could build upon, expand and deepen the understanding of vulnerability to the impacts of climate change in the UAE and the surrounding region, as well as identify practical adaptive responses at the local, national and regional levels. This work is driven by AGEDIā€™s vision to enhance accessibility to environmental data and information to support effective decision-making. AGEDI has engaged stakeholders throughout the region around five thematic areas: Regional climate change, Environment, Water resources, Coastal zones, and Socio-economic systems.
Register now! https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6812098338322318083
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. View System Requirements
All time in Gulf Standard Time (GMT+4)
The online session starts at 9:00 AM We recommend you join a few minutes beforehand – to give time to fix any equipment issues.

Register for online access! Day 2 Regional Symposium on Climate Change

Local, National and Regional Climate Change Programme Symposium Day 2: Land and Water
Join us for a live-streaming webinar on March 14, 2017
All registrants will receive a link to the recording ā€“ so please register even if you cannot attend the live event.
The AGEDI Local, National and Regional Climate Change Programme (LNRCCP) was launched in 2013 with the aim of establishing a climate change work programme that could build upon, expand and deepen the understanding of vulnerability to the impacts of climate change in the UAE and the surrounding region, as well as identify practical adaptive responses at the local, national and regional levels. This work is driven by AGEDIā€™s vision to enhance accessibility to environmental data and information to support effective decision-making. AGEDI has engaged stakeholders throughout the region around five thematic areas: Regional climate change, Environment, Water resources, Coastal zones, and Socio-economic systems.
Register now! https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5229520674929075459
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. View System Requirements
All time in Gulf Standard Time (GMT+4)
The online session starts at 9:00 AM We recommend you join a few minutes beforehand – to give time to fix any equipment issues.

Day 2 GoToWebinar Registration Regional Climate Change Symposium (4396 downloads )

Register for online access! Day 1 Regional Symposium on Climate Change

Local, National and Regional Climate Change Programme Symposium Day 1: Oceans (and opening events)

Join us for a live-streaming webinar on March 13, 2017
All registrants will receive a link to the recording ā€“ so please register even if you cannot attend the live event.
The AGEDI Local, National and Regional Climate Change Programme (LNRCCP) was launched in 2013 with the aim of establishing a climate change work programme that could build upon, expand and deepen the understanding of vulnerability to the impacts of climate change in the UAE and the surrounding region, as well as identify practical adaptive responses at the local, national and regional levels. This work is driven by AGEDIā€™s vision to enhance accessibility to environmental data and information to support effective decision-making. AGEDI has engaged stakeholders throughout the region around five thematic areas: Regional climate change, Environment, Water resources, Coastal zones, and Socio-economic systems.
Register now! https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5354886990726502914
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. View System Requirements
All time in Gulf Standard Time (GMT+4) The online session starts at 10:00 AM We recommend you join a few minutes beforehand – to give time to fix any equipment issues.

Day 1: GoToWebinar Registration Regional Symposium and Climate Change (4600 downloads )

Invitation to AGEDI Regional Symposium on Climate Change

Regional Symposium on Climate Change

The Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) in partnership with the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MOCCAE) is proudly announcing that a Regional Symposium on Climate Change will be held:

March 13 ā€“ 16, 2017

The agenda for the Symposium focuses on the twelve (12) recently completed studies of the Local, National, and Regional Climate Change Programme (LNRCCP).

AGEDI Final Symposium Agenda (March 2017)

Symposium Speaker Bios

The program will have sessions for the presentation of stakeholder-reviewed studies over the three days of the Symposium, including invited lectures from each of the Principal Investigators (or designees).

Symposium Session/Speaker
Opening (13 March) Oceans (13 March)

Ā·Regional Ocean Modeling

Ā·Regional Marine Biodiversity Vulnerability

Ā·Regional Desalination and CC

Land (14 March)

Ā·Ā Ā  Regional Atmospheric Modeling

Ā·Ā Ā  Regional Terrestrial Biodiversity Vulnerability

Ā·Ā Ā  National Coastal Vulnerability Index

Water (14 March)

Ā·Ā Ā  Al Ain water resources and CC

Ā·Ā Ā  National Water-Energy NEXUS and CC

Ā·Ā Ā  Regional Water-Energy NEXUS and CC

Socioeconomic
(15 March)
Ā·Ā Ā  National Food Security and CCĀ·Ā Ā  Health Cobenefits reducing GHGs

Ā·Ā Ā  Sea Level Rise

Ā§ Abdul-Majeid Haddad

Ā§ Nadia Rouchdy

Ā§ Sabah Al Jenaid

Ā§ Simon Wilson

Ā§ Ze Edson

Ā§ William Cheung

Ā§ Daniel Pauly

Ā§ David Yates

Ā§ Matthew Fitzpatrick

Ā§ Gregg Verutes

 

Ā§ Francisco Flores

Ā§ Stephanie Galaitsi

Ā§ David Yates

Ā§ Robert Arthur

Ā§ Daniel Lincke

Ā§ Paul Kucera

Ā§ Bill Dougherty

Please make sure to register at:Ā [email protected]

Climate Change Inspectors Toolkits Now Online!

We are very pleased to announce that the Local, National, Regional Climate Change Project Inspectors are now all online!

The 12 projects are subdivided into five thematic areas. The regional climate change thematic area includes the two studies that formed the backbone of the programme: these are the Regional Atmospheric Modelling and the Arabian Gulf Modelling. Building on that, two studies were carried out under the Environment thematic area: the Terrestrial Biodiversity and the Marine Biodiversity. The water resources thematic area includes three studies: the Regional Water-Energy Nexus, the UAE Water Energy Nexus and the Al Ain Water Resources. The Coastal Vulnerability Index and Sea Level Rise studies were conducted under the coastal zones thematic area. Finally, the last thematic area, socio economic systems, included three studies: the Desalination, the Food Security and the Public Health Co-benefits of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) Mitigation.

All outputs of the programme are freely available to all stakeholders, and the general public. A comprehensive set of data used, models developed, maps/videos produced, as well as technical reports and decision makers briefs prepared can be accessed and downloaded through AGEDIā€™s innovative and interactive online inspector portal, available at www.ccr-group.org/cc-inspectors.

 

AGEDI joins worldwide experts at UNEP/GEF Blue Forests Project workshop in Berlin

Berlin, Germany ā€“ The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and GRID ā€“ Arendal hosted a workshop on blue carbon pathways to sustainable development on 25-27 July 2016 in Berlin.

The main objectives of the joint meeting of the UNEP/GEF Blue Forests Project Advisory Panels on Policy and Ecosystem Services included identifying priority policy options for each of the Small Scale Interventions (SSIs), of which the Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) is one of the representatives, towards sustainable development of blue forests as well as identifying technical support to be provided by the Advisory Panels on Policy and Ecosystem Services over the remaining course of the project.

These advisory panels give recommendations to the SSIs on blue carbon science, ecosystem services and policy to support the effective implementation of the SSIs activities. Specifically on climate and marine and costal management, AGEDI helped facilitate the sharing of experiences, success and challenges of the SSIs to find ways of overcoming them as well as identify new opportunities for intervention.

Finally the participants, who included world renowned experts from international organisations, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), governments, academia, the private sector and research organisations, drafted a National Policy Assessment Framework, to ensure uptake and up scaling in other countries.