Image copyright Reuters Image caption Her Highness Sheikha Manal Bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is based in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi
The United Arab Emirates says it will host a major climate change conference in 2023, as part of the efforts to reduce global emissions.
Her Highness Sheikha Manal Bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is based in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi.
She told an international forum in Abu Dhabi: “It is our duty to meet the challenges that the climate change is bringing forth.”
More than 120 countries are attending the two-day conference in the UAE capital.
They are meeting to discuss the Sustainable Development Goals – a set of global priorities to achieve by 2030 – by better protecting the planet’s natural resources and ending poverty.
“We are in a race against time,” Sheikha Manal said.
“Climate change will escalate. Earth will give back its oxygen and we will have problems again.”
Sheikha Manal said the UAE was not about to take unilateral action to reduce its emissions.
Image copyright EPA Image caption The UAE conference is the third one of its kind after Rio in 1992 and Copenhagen in 2009
“We look at our neighbours… and what they are doing. They are also not doing it unilaterally. We are part of a regional agenda.”
Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, the UAE Foreign Minister, said the conference would set the agenda for the work in other Gulf states.
“The climate change conference in 2022, we will continue together with others in 2024. In 2023, that is the next conference,” he said.
“Each country is independent but we have plans and we will do what we can. We have to engage with countries.”
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Climate change is said to affect not only sea levels, but also extreme weather events such as floods
There are two main objectives of the climate change talks in Abu Dhabi.
One is to seek a set of agreements which will serve as a framework for action at the future talks.
The other, which is more specific to Abu Dhabi, is to set up a reporting system so that countries can be monitored on their efforts.