Each person in the UAE requires an average of 9.5 global hectares (gha) to sustain current rates of consumption and carbon emissions, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) for Nature’s 2008 Living Planet Report said.
This means that if the earth’s population consumed and emitted carbon as much as UAE residents do, more than "4.5 earths" would be required to sustain it, the report added. It showed that while global biocapacity is 2.1 gha per person, the average per person "footprint" is 2.7 global gha.
"We have begun to understand the UAE’s ecological footprint through the Al Basama Al Beeiya (ecological footprint) initiative in 2007. The country is taking steps in the right direction through initiatives like Masdar, development of green building codes, zero gas flaring, carbon capture and storage by Adnoc and Masdar, public transport, environmental education and awareness," Dr Rashid Ahmad Bin Fahd, Minister of Environment and Water, said.
The Al Basama Al Beeiya initiative made the UAE the third nation in the world to undertake research on its footprint.
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