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UN Aid Appeal to be Launched in UAE

ABU DHABI — An international appeal to coordinate the delivery of humanitarian aid will be launched in the country next month, marking the first time the major UN initiative is launched from a location other than New York or Geneva, according to a senior UN official

The Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP), a tool used by aid organisations to plan, implement and monitor their activities, will for the first time be launched in the UAE on November 24, Sarah El Khazin Bouvier, Consultant for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) for the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia, said at the World Security Forum in the capital on Wednesday.

“The CAP is presented to the international community and donors once every year through a launch in New York and Geneva, and this year’s choice to launch it in the UAE reflects the country’s active involvement in delivering humanitarian aid and its constant presence in areas of crisis in the region,” she said.

“The country also has an ideal geographic location for delivering humanitarian aid, as it is close to many crisis zones in Asia and Africa.”

As a coordination mechanism the CAP has fostered closer cooperation between governments, donors, aid agencies, the Red Cross movement and non-governmental organisations, through bringing attention to areas where humanitarian aid is most needed and ensuring the timely and effective delivery of aid.

This year, UN agencies, and other international and local organisations will use the CAP to call on the international community to support aid projects to countries in the region that include Iraq, Sudan, Palestine and Afghanistan.

Major-General Mohammad Al Awadhi Al Minhali, Police Operations General Director, told participants on the last day of the World Security Forum that security challenges around the world are great, and stressed the UAE is working with all nations, both wealthy and poor, to address global problems.

“Wealthy nations cannot only focus on their problems such as terrorism threats or the current economic crisis. There must be global coordination among all nations, and an understanding of the needs of all countries,” he said.

He also said the country is working to ensure its internal safety, focusing on the recent traffic accident that occurred on March 11 this year in Abu Dhabi as a great learning lesson for the nation.

The tragic accident was caused by low visibility due to fog. As thick fog starts in November in the country, the authorities have taken a number of precautions to ensure safety.

“We conducted training of rescue teams and connected the police operations centre with the national weather centre in order to receive updated information about weather conditions and warn passengers,” said Al Minhali. The city is now prepared to transport a large number of injured people in case of accidents.

Call to address global warming

Addressing participants, Professor Peter Cox, MET Office Chair in Climate System Dynamics, University of Exeter in the UK, said it is important to realise the expensive economic consequences of environmental degradation.

He revealed that since 1950, 72 per cent of the 283 natural disasters were weather related. These comprised 70 per cent of the $1.77 trillion in economic losses due to these disasters, and 45 per cent of the 1.8 million fatalities they caused.

Prof Cox said the UAE could be particularly vulnerable to sea-level rise caused by global warming.

“As ice sheets melt and the ocean heats up and expands due to the increased global temperature, countries located anywhere near the coast can be affected by the consequences of sea level rise which include a higher chance of flooding,” he said.

The temperature in the UAE can also increase and water availability decrease.

“Future predictions of disasters depend on our human activities, and we can have a number of different outcomes ranging from the manageable to the catastrophic based on our current activities and the levels of carbon emissions,” he said.

Prof Cox said oil producers and consumers who benefit the most from fossil fuel burning such as the UK and the UAE must bear the brunt of devising mechanisms to avert disastrous consequences of climate change on the entire globe.

Carbon dioxide moves in the atmosphere, hitting hardest people in the Third World countries who are least responsible for global warming.

Third World countries are at risk of a three-fold increase in malaria infections and a decrease in crop yield. “This will exacerbate economic inequalities and lead to increased migrations,” he said.

asmahamid@khaleejtimes.com