"Great change happens when we come together for a common purpose," said HE Dr. Thani Bin Ahmed Al-Zeyodi, minister of Climate Change and Environment for the UAE delivering the keynote speech on the second day of the festival on the topic Climate and Environmental Sustainability.
He then moved on to explaining the various policies of UAE government regarding environment and climate change and said that the foremost goal of the government was to assure sustainability across all sectors. “Carbon free sources and renewable energy will be widely used by 2040. Measures will be taken to cut down greenhouse emissions,” he said. The Barkla nuclear power plant which is the first of its kind in Arab countries is aimed to provide 25% of UAE's energy needs. Measures are being taken to improve the energy efficiency, he added.
“The extinction of even smallest species can have great impact on climate change.” He reiterated UAE's responsibility about protecting the species which faced extinction. Concluding the speech, he said that the UAE government's policy involves everyone from common people to businessman in its action towards protecting environment.
KLF festival director K Satchidanandan said that it was time to rethink human priorities and to change our attitude towards environment and development. The session concluded an interaction with the audience.
“There is no dedicated subject in the school syllabus about environmental change but it is embedded in other subjects. HE Dr. Thani said in response to the question on how UAE government will change the attitude of people towards environment. “There is an increase in solar energy production in the last 10 years and UAE is the part of international solar alliance,” said HE Dr.Thani. There was also discussion about the importance of waste management and shared vision to recycle more than seventy person of solid waste by 2021.
K Satchidanandan concluded the session with the famous quote by Mahatma Gandhi, 'The world has enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed.'