By Lily B. Libo-on www.khaleejtimes.com
DUBAI — The role taken by the Dubai Metro will be taken up as example to invest for a green economy amidst the current economic crisis, Dr Rashid Ahmed bin Fahd, Minister of Environment and Water, told Khaleej Times.
He said that The President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has already given orders for the construction of a ‘Mass Railway’ for the entire UAE, and Abu Dhabi is planning for its implementation in the Capital city considering that Dubai Metro is among the projects for a green economy in the UAE.
He said that the entire UAE has lots of green projects, including the hosting of Masdar City and IRENA and finding renewable energy.
“The government has partnered with the private sector, particularly with companies to go for green building and renewable energy sources,” he said.
The minister, who earlier spoke at the opening of the “LG Greenomics Conference 2009” at the Cultural and Scientific Association in Al Mamzar, said LG Electronics sponsoring the conference demonstrated the government’s strong ties with the private sector.
He said that Greenomics kicked off the talks on the extremely crucial aspect of environmental sustainability in the Middle East.
“This is more than just a social initiative but recognition that as a society we need to achieve a balance between economic stability and environmental responsibility, between sustainable development and green living.”
He debunked any misconception that going green is expensive.
“We conducted this conference to drum up awareness on investing green for the future. Dubai has already a Green Building Code, and this initiative shows that the government is investing on green economy which is the only way to go,” he said.
The minister said the UAE is also aware of all global issues of climate change, and thus has taken a lot of initiative toward this end and it is working on projects worldwide especially on the adoptations of these projects to minimise emissions in industries within the UAE.
“We have a national committee working with other countries on bio-diversity, climate change, including the forthcoming conference in Copenhagen at the year-end.”
He said the UAE is supporting the UN Climate Conference from December 7 to 18 in Copenhagen.
“After Copenhagen, UAE will support fully to have an agreement with countries to cut down on carbon emissions.”
“The Masdar City project, which aims at zero waste and zero carbon emission is a model of future city, will earn UAE a name as a model country. We believe in taking ahead of other countries in building our future renewable energy,” the environment minister said.
