UAE Leads the Way in Sustainable Water Management at the World Water Forum in Indonesia

The United Arab Emirates participated in the World Water Forum held in Bali, Indonesia on Monday 20th May 2024. Suhail Al Mazrouei led the delegation for the UAE. The country has shown inspiring results in terms of adhering to SDG goals. It has achieved a remarkable feature of providing a near 100 percent of safe drinking water to all of its population and 80 percent in the integrated water resource management system. 

In order to remain updated, the Govt conducted voluntary SDG national reviews in 2018 and 2022. It has a good SDG index score of 69.7% as per a report by the World SDG Index. 

Water Desalination and Power Generation Plants in UAE

According to the stats of the Sustainable Development Report, UAE residents receive 99.97% of clean basic water supply for daily usage credit goes to the 3 thermal and natural gas-powered water desalination plants in the country. 

The plants are namely Shuweihat S2 Power & Water Treatment Plant in Abu Dhabi which has a production capacity of 1510 MW of electricity and 100 million Imperial Gallons of distilled water per day, Jebel Ali Power Station in Dubai, the largest of its kind in the UAE, having 6 gas turbines that can produce up to 2060 MW of electricity and 140 MIGD of water. The last one is the F2 plant in Fujairah, which is a greenfield power generation and seawater desalination plant with the highest capacity of a whopping 2850 MW of power generation and 230 MIGD of water. 

UAE’s pledge towards Sustainable Development Goals and Climate Change

The United Arab Emirates stood 79th out of 166 countries in the SDG Index last year. To battle the changing climate scenario, the country has formed a separate ministry known as the Emirates Green Building Council (EGBC). 

To maintain the pledge towards climate change adoption and sustainability, the UAE has made up 3 plans starting from UAE Green Agenda 2015-2030, Vision 2021, and Vision 2040. 

Vision 2021

It was formed by and under the current Vice President and Prime Minister of the union of UAE, and the Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in 2010 as the Vision 2021. One of the many key areas in the Vision Statement was Sustainable Environment and Infrastructure. The other areas stated were cohesive society and preserved identity, safe public and fair judiciary, competitive knowledge economy, world class healthcare and first rate education system. 

UAE Green Agenda 2015-2030

A national initiative was taken up by the Government for building a long term green economy in the country under the slogan Green Economy for Sustainable Development. This was again led by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum turning Dubai into the main hub. The strategy was implemented in 2015 to make UAE a world leader in the segment and a place for exports and re-exports of renewable energy and green technology while also maintaining an ecological and sustainable balance with nature.

The agenda focussed on key areas such as competitive knowledge economy, Social Development and quality of life, Sustainable Environment and Valued Natural Resources, Clean Energy and Climate Action, Green Life and Sustainable usage of resources. 

The programme was implemented and still in action in order to promote the usage of renewable energy and create awareness among the people so that they adopt the green technology.

Vision 2040

The Vision 2040 is a comprehensive chalked out plan regarding making Dubai into an example of World’s greatest futuristic city. The plan outlines the edges of the current city and the future layout of Dubai involving Public parks, residential areas, corporate places keeping the SDG goals in mind. It was launched by Dubai’s ruler and VP of UAE, HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.