Experts say international cooperation is vital for protecting our environment

ABU DHABI // Organisations and governments need to do a better job at sharing data if they are to solve the challenges that face the environment, said representatives from the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD) ahead of the three-day Eye to Earth Summit.

Ahmed Baharoon, an executive director at the EAD, said that data sharing or “knowledge networking” was one of the main objectives for the Abu Dhabi summit.

He said that the impact of data being collected and generated at such a fast rate was compounded when given the chance to be viewed without exclusivity.

“Eye on Earth is built on data and that data is going to lead us to sustainable development,” Mr Baharoon said. “The challenge is to figure out what the problem is, collect the most data on it and then make that data available for the decision-makers.”

He said that the organisation as a whole would be trying to increase awareness of the need for environmental data.

“That is our main target for the summit,” he said.

Part of the challenge, said Dr Majid Al Qassimi, EAD director of terrestrial biodiversity, was to collect data across countries, political lines and regions.

“Working together is what’s important,” he said. “The data that we collect for the emirate of Abu Dhabi and from international sources help the conservation work ... because we have a better understanding of the situation,” he said.

Dr Al Qassimi said, for example, that if conservationists better understood the migratory patterns of animals across the GCC and the Asian continent as a whole, they would be better able to conserve species.

Before the dialogue between the UAE and Kazakhstan on the houbara, the bird was in danger of extinction. Data-sharing agreements over the past two decades had led to an increase in the birds’ population and migration between the countries.

He said that all data collected should be sent to international organisations to allow conservationists to work together. This included “citizen science”, the process by which residents are given tools to collect data for organisations, an aspect of the summit that will be of interest to delegates.

“Citizen science is one of the driving forces in Eye to Earth and there will be sessions to address this. It is an important element because it engages the public and makes them a part of solving the issues,” he said.

Razan Al Mubarak, secretary general of the EAD, said Eye to Earth was important in terms of specifying a global agenda.

“Equipping decision-makers with the data and information to make decisions is crucial as we all work ... to safeguard the future of the planet and humanity,” she said.

nalwasmi@thenational.ae