Wafa al Yamani, 24, an Emirati, is looking for the perfect spot for a biofuels crop farm in the capital.
Wafa al Yamani, 24, an Emirati, is looking for the perfect spot for a biofuels crop farm in the capital.
Wafa al Yamani, 24, an Emirati, is looking for the perfect spot for a biofuels crop farm in the capital.
Wafa al Yamani, 24, an Emirati, is looking for the perfect spot for a biofuels crop farm in the capital.

Environment

Wafa searches for pick of crop

A Masdar Institute student has been asked to find the best place to farm Salicornia, a plant that can grow off of seawater and in the harshest climate of the desert, and that could produce biofuel.

Erin Conroy

June 02, 2011

  • English
  • Arabic

ABU DHABI // There are many places in Abu Dhabi where a plant that can tolerate the desert's harsh climate and salty water would thrive.

Wafa al Yamani has been tasked with finding the best one.

Ms al Yamani, 24, is investigating the best site for farming Salicornia, a possible source of biofuel.

A water and environmental engineering student at the Masdar Institute, she has been working to determine the best areas for the crop, which would survive on seawater from the Gulf.

The plant, which is native to the US and Mexico, does not compete with edible crops and feeds from the rich nutrients of shrimp and fish. Local researchers hope to extract oil from its seeds for use in jet fuel.

Ms al Yamani has been working closely with the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD) to find 2 square km of land where they believe the plant will give them the best yield.

They have found several promising sites based on the concentration of salinity and closeness to the sea, but will now need to conduct field investigations to determine the environmental impact.

"It is a big challenge," Ms al Yamani said. "It is an important step because we do not want to damage the environment or the ecosystem where small creatures live."

She said the project was unique in that the plant has not been farmed anywhere in the region as a fuel source, despite its tolerance to the climate.

"Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Egypt have tried to plant it in their countries but only to feed animals," Ms al Yamani said.

"If it works here, we can use it on other lands in the country and apply it further."

Ms al Yamani, who studied environmental science and geology at UAE University, said she hoped for a position at EAD to continue working on the project, which will probably last five to 10 years.

"It is a place I really trust and would like to continue working with," she said.

While working on projects with EAD and other organisations, she "met people from different countries who are thinking naturally as we have learned here", Ms al Yamani said of Masdar Institute.

"I know how to conduct a project, how to consider important components such as sustainability, economic feasibility and safety of the environment … and thinking about the analysis behind it."

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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.”

UAEEnvironmentMasdarEnergy