The Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) aims to apply the City Biodiversity Index in the emirate of Abu Dhabi–a self-assessment tool for cities worldwide to benchmark and monitor the progress of their biodiversity conservation efforts.
TheCity Biodiversity Index, also known as the Singapore Index on Cities’Biodiversity aims to help cities achieve a development trajectory where biodiversity and people can thrive in harmony, while addressing biodiversity loss and climate change – all based on the latest scientific data generatedduring the past decade.
The Abu Dhabi City Biodiversity Index will help the emirate benchmark biodiversity conservation efforts in the urban context at city level, help evaluate progress in reducing the rate of biodiversity loss in urban ecosystems and help measure the ecological footprint of cities. Once the index is established future assessments will use this initial effort as a benchmark for further improvements in improving the role of cities, such as Abu Dhabi, in playing a global role in promoting and conserving biodiversity.EAD has been collecting biodiversity data in urban sites such as parks, golf courses, natural areas, residential areas which have provided a wealth of information on urban biodiversity.
Ahmed Alhashmi, Acting Executive Director Terrestrial and Marine Biodiversity at EAD, said: ‘‘At EAD we are constantly striving to apply the best international practices in our environmental work, and we select the most advanced and progressive benchmarks. As such, we will be applying the Singapore City Biodiversity Indexto Abu Dhabi city in order to track the progress we are making when it comes to the preservation of biodiversity, while using the latest research and data available.’’
Al Hashmi added:‘‘By 2050, the global population is expected to increase to 9.2 billion, of which 6.4 billion will be urban dwellers. It is commonly assumed that cities are devoid of flora and fauna but, in reality, many cities have a rich biodiversity, regardless of geographical location and climate.
‘‘For example, Abu Dhabi and its environs lie in areas that are blessed with high biodiversity value, such as the Al Wathba Wildlife Reserve, an important wetland which is a stopover for migratory species. The reserve also has a resident breeding flamingo population and many new terrestrial insect species new to science have been recorded at this reserve.
“The Mangrove National Park also provides many benefits to both terrestrial and marine flora and fauna. The multitude of parks and green areas in and around the city provide a fantastic host of habitats for species. The Abu Dhabi City Biodiversity Index comes at an exciting time for Abu Dhabi, and EAD. We are currently in the preparatory phases and we hope to have the results of the City Index for Abu Dhabi ready by the end of 2021 which will mark a great achievement for biodiversity data that EAD has been collecting for many years.’’
For such projects to succeed the role of citizen science is very crucial and the EAD will be launching a Species App with a citizen science module that will enable citizens to collect and submit species data and assist in collecting biodiversity data.