Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak is president of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for the leadership team of Cop28 UAE
June 07, 2024
In the battle against climate change our greatest ally is the ocean. Not only does the ocean produce half of the world’s oxygen – making it truly the "lungs" of the earth – it is also the largest carbon sink, absorbing a quarter of all carbon dioxide emissions and capturing 90 per cent of the excess heat generated by them. A healthy ocean is vital to protect us from the worst impacts of climate change.
Indeed, the ocean has more to offer to keep us safe. Research released last year by the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, reveals that ocean-based climate solutions could close the emissions gap by up to 35 per cent by 2050 on a 1.5°C pathway – a reduction equivalent to four times the annual emissions of European Union countries.
And yet for all the wonderful benefits that the ocean offers us, we are not in turn a good friend to it. Of all the UN Sustainable Development Goals, SDG14 (to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development) is by far the least funded, representing just 0.01 percent of all development funding. According to the World Economic Forum, while $175 billion a year is needed to achieve SDG14, just below $10 billion in total was invested between 2015 and 2019.
Throughout Cop28, the ocean was given greater prominence within the process of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The summit featured the largest ocean pavilion to date at a COP, and the agreed text invited parties, for the first time, to "preserve and restore oceans and coastal ecosystems and scale up, as appropriate, ocean-based mitigation action."
Another first for any Cop, we hosted the Oceans Ministerial – a heads of state-level event dedicated to the ocean. We mobilised $2.7 billion for nature finance and announced the historic Cop28 Joint Statement on Climate, Nature, and People, highlighting the interconnectedness of the climate and biodiversity crises.
Turtles are released by the Environmental Agency Abu Dhabi, at Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi. Victor Besa / The National
At Cop28, we also launched the Ocean Breakthroughs, a roadmap with clear 2030 targets aimed at fostering a healthy and productive ocean by 2050. These breakthroughs focus on key sectors: marine conservation, ocean renewable energy, shipping, aquatic food and coastal tourism.
Complimenting these efforts to elevate the importance of our oceans, Cop28 issued an urgent call to protect mangroves. Mangroves are some of the most carbon-rich ecosystems on the planet, storing on average 1,000 tonnes of carbon per hectare in their biomass and underlying soils.
They are a critical source of livelihoods for coastal communities and a strong line of defence against floods, drought and biodiversity loss. The Nature, Land Use, and Ocean Day at Cop28 focused on mangroves, the ocean, and shed light on the importance of implementing the newly adopted global biodiversity framework goal to protect 30 per cent of land and sea by 2030, and the complimentary goals of the Oceans and Mangrove Breakthroughs, which aim to restore and protect 15 million hectares of mangroves globally by 2030. In total, 21 countries formally endorsed this breakthrough and hundreds of non-state actors.
With over 70 per cent of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) now incorporating at least one ocean-based climate measure, momentum for ocean-based solutions is building.
As we approach the deadlines for updated Nationally Determined Contributions by 2025 and the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans this year, it is crucial that we build on this progress and ensure a more comprehensive integration of ocean solutions in our national plans coupled with the delivery of concrete actions to protect our blue carbon ecosystems.
One of the key challenges to protecting our ocean is raising finance to implement far-reaching solutions. While the $175 billion figure is a substantial amount, we need to consider that the blue economy, which includes livelihoods and other economic benefits derived from ocean, is estimated to be worth between $3 trillion and $6 trillion per year globally, per UN Trade and Development data.
Cop28 made progress on finance. At the summit, $100 million in finance was announced for Pacific Small Island Developing States from the Bezos Earth Fund for the Unlocking Blue Pacific Prosperity Plan.
This plan aims to protect 30 per cent of the countries’ waters and exclusive economic zones by 2030, representing an area larger than the surface of the moon. A group of philanthropies, including Bloomberg Philanthropies, Builders Vision, and Oceankind, announced $250 million of new finance under the Ocean Resilience Climate Alliance, targeting protection for vulnerable marine areas, ocean-based mitigation efforts, and research on climate impacts.
The Mangrove Breakthrough Financial Roadmap to scale up capital flow into mangrove protection and restoration was endorsed by some of the world's largest financial institutions and provided a pathway to achieve the financial goals of the Mangrove Breakthrough.
But we need more, much more.
The Arabian Gulf countries, rich in corals, seagrasses, and mangroves, for which the blue economy is so central to livelihoods, culture and economy, should be at the forefront.
As we look ahead to the upcoming milestones such as the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, G20, Cop29, IUCN World Conservation Congress and the UN Ocean Conference in 2025, we have a unique opportunity to continue to drive collective actions to protect and sustainably manage our oceans.
Let’s seize this opportunity and ensure our oceans continue to be a source of life and a beacon of hope for generations to come, through stronger collaboration and ambition.
Badr Organisation: Seen as the most militarily capable faction in the Hashd. Iraqi Shiite exiles opposed to Saddam Hussein set up the group in Tehran in the early 1980s as the Badr Corps under the supervision of the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The militia exalts Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei but intermittently cooperated with the US military.
Saraya Al Salam (Peace Brigade): Comprised of former members of the officially defunct Mahdi Army, a militia that was commanded by Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr and fought US and Iraqi government and other forces between 2004 and 2008. As part of a political overhaul aimed as casting Mr Al Sadr as a more nationalist and less sectarian figure, the cleric formed Saraya Al Salam in 2014. The group’s relations with Iran has been volatile.
Kataeb Hezbollah: The group, which is fighting on behalf of the Bashar Al Assad government in Syria, traces its origins to attacks on US forces in Iraq in 2004 and adopts a tough stance against Washington, calling the United States “the enemy of humanity”.
Asaeb Ahl Al Haq: An offshoot of the Mahdi Army active in Syria. Asaeb Ahl Al Haq’s leader Qais al Khazali was a student of Mr Al Moqtada’s late father Mohammed Sadeq Al Sadr, a prominent Shiite cleric who was killed during Saddam Hussein’s rule.
Harakat Hezbollah Al Nujaba: Formed in 2013 to fight alongside Mr Al Assad’s loyalists in Syria before joining the Hashd. The group is seen as among the most ideological and sectarian-driven Hashd militias in Syria and is the major recruiter of foreign fighters to Syria.
Saraya Al Khorasani: The ICRG formed Saraya Al Khorasani in the mid-1990s and the group is seen as the most ideologically attached to Iran among Tehran’s satellites in Iraq.
(Source: The Wilson Centre, the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation)
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
An arms embargo
A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
