INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Green Technology
Data at the heart of attempts to
protect Abu Dhabi’s marine waters
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T
he Abu Dhabi Smart Solutions and
Services Authority (ADSSSA) has met
up with the Environment Agency
– Abu Dhabi (EDA) to discuss mutually
beneficial projects to improve the quality of
marine water in UAE’s capital city.
Both parties tackled the next steps to develop
an integrated environmental system to be
reviewed at the World Summit of Oceans set
to be held in March 2019 in Abu Dhabi.
The meeting was chaired by H.E Razan
Khalifa Al Mubarak, Secretary General of
Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD),
and H.E Dr. Rauda Al Saadi, Director General
of ADSSSA.
techniques and optimisation of government
resources and services through the Spatial
Data Infrastructure (AD – SDI) Program.
H.E. Dr. Al Saadi said: “Both institutions
aim to harness the power of spatial data
for the preservation of the environment,
thus contributing to the smart analysis
and decision-making process within the
government. Maximising data enables
local communities to quickly and smoothly
access the latest geospatial information
and take advantage of the existing
infrastructure developed to meet the
highest international standards.”
The two sides agreed to cooperate in
implementing their joint environmental
projects, including an executive plan for
marine environment preservation to be
implemented by Abu Dhabi authorities. H.E. Dr. Al Saadi added that ADSSSA has
been harnessing all technological resources
to support the environment, in line with the
Abu Dhabi Government’s efforts to ensure a
healthy and sustainable marine environment
and develop an integrated environment
system in Abu Dhabi.
The plan will cover environmental
monitoring, data collection methods and H.E. Razan Al Mubarak said that the
meeting had paved the way for concerned
parties to further enhance their joint
sustainability efforts, including quality
improvement of the marine waters, amid
Abu Dhabi’s continuous development.
She noted that protecting the local marine
waters is one of the government’s main
priorities as evidenced by the passage
of key relevant laws; implementation
of globally accepted environmental
monitoring programmes; enactment
of standards to determine the levels
of harmful contaminants present in
the marine environment; and strict
environmental assessment and inspection
of industrial activities and their impact on
the marine environment.
Since 2006, EDA has been implementing a
programme to monitor the quality of marine
water. It has built a network of monitoring
stations to collect and measure samples for
analysis of the levels of nutrients, organic
elements, microbes, heavy metals in water
and marine sediments.
It has also developed an automated early
warning system that can predict the rate of
harmful algal blooms.
The system uses automatic buoys that collect
data related to marine water characteristics
every hour and throughout the week.
The information collected is used to develop
and enforce policies and legislation to
moderate the impact of human activities on
the marine environment and protect public
health and biodiversity.
The Abu Dhabi Spatial Data Infrastructure
Program managed by ADSSSA aims to
facilitate the exchange of spatial data
among stakeholders and work to raise the
emirate’s geospatial capabilities. n
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