To commemorate the UAE’s Golden Jubilee and support sustainability efforts in line with the UAE’s Net Zero by 2050 Strategic Program, the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) and Dubai Municipality jointly organized a Mangrove Tree Planting initiative at Jebel Ali Wetland Sanctuary. The Mangrove Tree Planting initiative was part of the corporate social and environmental responsibility program, and it was in keeping with the UAE’s goal of planting 100 million mangroves by 2030. This would result in an increase of 70 million mangroves on top of the 30 million saline-tolerant trees pledged as part of the Paris Agreement’s second Nationally Determined Contribution. Following the declaration by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change that the UAE will host the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) in 2023, the new deadline was announced in November 2021.
The Mangrove Tree Planting ceremony took place in the center of the stunning 2,000-hectare Jebel Ali Wetland Sanctuary, which was inscribed to the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance in 2018. Coral reefs, mangroves, shallow lagoons, seagrass beds, oyster beds, and sandy shorelines make up the coastal and marine wetland, which provides a healthy and diversified wetland home for over 500 marine species. The Mangrove Tree Planting initiative complements the Department of Economy and Tourism’s and Dubai Municipality’s ongoing sustainable development strategies to combat climate change, preserve and protect natural biodiversities and ecosystems, and strengthen Dubai’s position as a sustainable destination. The project comes on the heels of the UAE’s recent statement that it wants to invest over AED600 billion to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.