UAE Ministry of Environment and Water collaborates with partners to inaugurate UAE Air Quality Network

UAE, May 25, 2015 – Following the directives of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the Ministry of Environment and Water has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Centre for Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS), the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi (EAD), Dubai Municipality, Fujairah Municipality, the Municipality and Planning Department in Ajman and Sharjah Municipality, for the launch of the UAE Air Quality Network. The signing ceremony was held on the sidelines of the 6th Green Economy Annual Conference, taking place today (Monday, May 25, 2015) under the theme ‘National Roundtable on Financing and Investing in Green Economy Projects.’ H.H. Sheikh Mohammed approved the establishment of the UAE Air Quality Network while attending the brainstorming sessions for the Government Creative Laboratory, an initiative organized by the Ministry in October 2014.

Commenting on the MoU, H.E. Dr. Rashid Ahmed Bin Fahad, Minister of Environment and Water, said that the launch of the UAE Air Quality Network is the realization of the policies to achieve the vision of sustainable development set by the wise leadership. It is also reinforces the Ministry’s eagerness to motivate all the parties to undertake more endeavors to enhance the efforts of promoting environmental sustainability in the country. He pointed out that the UAE Air Quality Network is the result of the efforts of various national entities who always seek to transform the innovative ideas into pilot projects. These pilot projects will contribute towards the UAE’s progress and leadership to place it among the world’s best countries by 2021, highlighting the exceptional efforts of the local and federal level teams which resulted in the completion of the project within 6 months.

H.E. Dr. Bin Fahad said that the idea of establishing the UAE Air Quality Network was one of the Government Creative Laboratory launched by the Ministry with an aim to come up with creative ideas and turn it into a practical reality. The UAE Air Quality Network will contribute in the development of a comprehensive and integrated national strategy to preserve the environment and improve the air quality as one of the country’s priorities. He noted that the signing of the MoU today demonstrates the vital and effective role played by the federal and other competent authorities in the implementation of the project to raise the level of air quality by up to 90 per cent by 2021 to achieve the targets for the National Agenda.

Under the terms of the MoU, regular meetings will be held to discuss technical and operational issues of the network. It will also collaborate with all parties to use a standardized mechanism to measure pollutants and calculation of daily air quality index in addition to calculation of index concentrations of particulate matter and the development and modernization of private data of air pollutants. Moreover, they will organize seminars, joint workshops, and training programs to promote the exchange of expertise to build the capacity of workers in the field of monitoring air pollutants. This will ensure the implementation of best practices and methodologies for the establishment of the UAE Air Quality Network initiative in coordination with the partners. Lastly, they will undertake the exchange of information, technical reports, and related studies between all authorities which will be utilized in improving the country’s air quality.

The UAE Air Quality Network aims to improve the air quality in order to reduce the emissions from various fixed sources, including factories, power plants, and mobile sources. This also incorporates the means of transportation through unification method of measuring the concentrations of pollutants in ambient air. In addition, it will report and deal with data on air protection system in the country in order to calculate two vital indicators: air quality index and the index of particulate matter at the state level.

The monitoring system in the network provides an electronic link to all the basic information for the management of air quality data in the UAE from the measurement point and can even draw a map of the concentration of the pollutants. The system includes standards and regulations for private stations, measurement, reporting methods for data, calibration programs, turning points, databases, and the calculation of air quality index and the index of particulate matter index calculation.