The UAE Council for Climate Change and Environment held its first meeting of 2021 at the headquarters of the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) in Dubai. His Excellency Dr Abdullah Belhaif Al Nuaimi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, presided over the gathering.
His Excellency Dr Al Nuaimi said: “Stepping up cooperation between government and private sector entities is key to achieving the UAE’s objectives. As the chairing member of the UAE Council for Climate Change and Environment, the Ministry is keen on holding regular meetings to bring everyone on board.”
The event commenced with a review of the three recommendations from the last meeting of heads of municipalities across the UAE that took place in August 2020.
The first recommendation involved boosting local food security. Proposed ways included developing and increasing the efficiency of the infrastructure and services that cater to the agricultural sector, establishing partnerships and investment channels with the private sector to improve the sales of local agricultural products in the UAE and abroad, and enhancing agricultural guidance through awareness programs and field visits.
The second recommendation was to unify food imports and food facilities inspection and control measures through establishing a joint technical team to examine the relevant measures currently applied by local authorities. The team would then align the procedures as well as the documentation of the control and inspection processes of imported food consignments at points of entry.
The third recommendation concerned reviewing the outcomes of an evaluation study of slaughterhouses and livestock markets in the UAE. In this regard, a team was set up to formulate technical specifications and standard procedures applicable to these facilities. It also carried out an environmental impact assessment for these establishments, and relocated the ones in proximity to residential areas or animal farms to more convenient locations.
Another item on the meeting’s agenda was the Unified Municipal Work Guide for Aligning Technical Conditions for Public Health Pest Control Firms. MOCCAE developed the guide in cooperation with the concerned local authorities with the aim of classifying pest control firms, unifying technical conditions, assigning control and inspection roles, and specifying pest types and related control methods.
In this context, His Excellency Dr Al Nuaimi emphasized the importance of imposing stringent control measures on pesticides traded in the local market, and ensuring the reliability of their sources and their safety. He also highlighted the need to regularly assess the effectiveness of the guide in regulating local pesticide trade, and updating it accordingly.
Moreover, the participants reviewed the progress on developing the UAE municipalities federal webpage that will provide an overview of the work of municipal authorities, and support entrepreneurship and investments through outlining business regulatory processes and decisions. The site is expected to go live by end-2021.
The meeting included a presentation on the desert locusts combat plan, developed by MOCCAE in cooperation with concerned local stakeholders, and on the third edition of the Infectious Biological Waste Management Handbook that sets out the standards and practices for safe handling, processing, and disposal of potentially infectious waste. The publication also contains a comprehensive guide on the disposal of waste generated during the diagnosis, isolation, and treatment of COVID-19 patients.
Furthermore, council members discussed the proper allocation of feed for animal breeders, and recommended tightening the control over feed retailers by the authorities and launching awareness campaigns for the beneficiaries of feed allocation.
On this subject, His Excellency Dr Al Nuaimi noted that the livestock identification and registration campaign launched by the Ministry in collaboration with its partners across the UAE, has contributed to increasing the revenue from animal agriculture and improving the efficiency of feed allocation to eligible beneficiaries.