The UAE skies hummed with record levels of air traffic on the opening day of Cop28, as tens of thousands of delegates from across the world arrived in Dubai for the summit.
The General Civil Aviation Authority told The National 2,848 air traffic movements were posted on November 30.
In the three days before Cop28 and the three days after it started, the number of scheduled and non-scheduled aircraft movements rose by 13 per cent, the civil aviation regulator said.
Non-scheduled movements represented 15 per cent of this traffic, it said.
“Cop28 traffic demand witnessed significant growth for private jet, and general aviation operations reached 15 per cent and remarkable demand for DWC airport,” the GCAA said.
The UN-run Blue Zone at Dubai's Expo City has had 97,000 people register as delegates – far more than the 70,000 expected.
Negotiators, campaigners and lobbyists have attended the conference’s Blue Zone, where the bulk of climate talks are taking place. The UN-administered Blue Zone is also the setting for climate protests.
More than 400,000 members of the public have applied for one-day passes for the Green Zone, which is hosting activities in conjunction with the conference.
Climate campaigners typically voice concerns about the emissions from private jets that government and business leaders use to fly to climate conferences and gatherings such as Davos.
The number of delegates at this Cop event in Dubai – nearly three times as many as the Cop 26 attendance in Glasgow and about four times more than the 2015 gathering that culminated in the Paris Agreement – underscores the importance of the climate agenda.
While the skies above Cop28 were busy with air traffic, hotels in Dubai have recorded a “noticeable jump” in occupancy rates, according to data by CoStar Group, the parent company of hotel analytics provider STR.
Dubai showed its highest December occupancy on the books for December 1 (43.7 per cent), and December 2 (44.2 per cent) – the second and third days of Cop28, CoStar data showed.
Compared to the same period in the previous year, the figures were lower, standing at 30.8 per cent and 29.4 per cent, respectively.
The emirate has hosted several events in the past few weeks that have attracted an influx of international visitors.
These include the Dubai Airshow on November 13, the International Civil Aviation Organisation's Conference on Aviation and Alternative Fuels (CAAF/3) on November 20 and the Cop28 UN climate summit on November 30.
Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
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- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten
Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a month before Reaching the Last Mile.
Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
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