Month: June 2021

ABU DHABI, Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) today began planting 10,000 mangroves in Jebel Ali Wildlife Sanctuary in partnership with the “One Billion Tree-Planting Initiative”.

Mangroves, which grow in tidal areas of the coast, are an important native tree species in the UAE.

Studies show that mangroves sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere up to four times as effective as a rainforest. The trees also protect coastal areas from erosion and contribute to the sustainability of coastal ecosystems.

EGA and the One Billion Tree-Planting Initiative have engaged experts from the Emirates Marine Environmental Group, Dubai’s oldest NGO, to plant the mangrove saplings to ensure the young trees will thrive.

The Initiative is a global campaign spearheaded by the UAE to plant one billion trees around the world by the end of 2025, improving lives and livelihoods whilst also helping tackle climate change.

One innovative feature of the campaign, delivered in partnership with EcoMatcher, a Hong Kong-based benefit or “B” corporation, is its use of blockchain technology to track tree planting accurately and transparently and to measure carbon sequestration achieved.

Abdulnasser bin Kalban, CEO of EGA, said, “Mangroves are a beautiful part of our natural environment in the UAE. They also have a potentially important role in capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. We are pleased to partner with the One Billion Tree-Planting Initiative to plant mangroves down the coast from our Jebel Ali plant in Dubai.

“Aluminium plays an important role in the development of a more sustainable society, but it also matters how sustainably it is made. At EGA we are committed to reducing the greenhouse gas emissions from our industrial activities and we have already made considerable progress. Offsetting emissions we cannot eliminate from human activity will be an important part of the global solution to climate change over the decades ahead.”

The One Billion Tree-Planting Initiative aims to reach 21 countries by the end of this year and individuals can play a part alongside companies and other organisations.

Source: Emirates News Agency

DUBAI, flydubai, the Dubai-based airline, has announced the start of daily flights to Warsaw (WAW) from 30th September, 2021. Warsaw will become flydubai’s second destination in Poland after Krakow (KRK), which currently operates with a twice weekly service.

Ghaith Al Ghaith, CEO at flydubai, said, “We have been flying to Krakow in Poland since 2018 and by adding Warsaw to our network we are providing our passengers with more options for travel to and from Poland. We look forward to creating travel and trade flows with our daily service.”

Jeyhun Efendi, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations and E-commerce, flydubai, said, “We are pleased to see our network in Europe grow further with the start of operations to Warsaw. With daily flights to Warsaw, and more countries lifting restrictions on international travel, passengers will have the opportunity to explore more destinations on the flydubai network.”

With international travel restrictions gradually easing, flydubai has grown its network to over 90 destinations including several seasonal summer routes, such as Batumi in Georgia, Bodrum and Trabzon in Turkey, Mykonos and Santorini in Greece, Naples in Italy, Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt and Tivat in Montenegro.

flydubai’s network offers passengers the chance to explore a range of cities rich in culture, heritage and activities such as Baku, Bucharest, Budapest, Istanbul, Ljubljana, Tbilisi, Tirana and Yerevan. flydubai also offers flights to some of the best beaches and tropical hotspots in the world including the Maldives and Zanzibar.

Emirates will codeshare on flights to Warsaw, offering travellers more seamless connections through Dubai’s international aviation hub to 168 destinations between both the Emirates and flydubai networks, including Australia, China, Indian Ocean, Japan, South Asia, and the US.

flydubai’s passenger experience has been redesigned to enable travel in a safe environment that minimises crew and passenger contact and offers passengers confidence to travel at every step of their journey. Passengers who book a flight through flydubai.com will receive complimentary global cover for COVID-19 related costs.

Passengers are required to make sure that they are up to date with the regulations from the IATA Travel Centre and the IATA destination tracker for their whole journey, and follow the guidance issued by the authorities and the airline. Passengers can also visit the COVID-19 information hub on flydubai.com for more information.

Source: Emirates News Agency

DUBAI, Smart Dubai took part in a remote roundtable on the ‘Use of Data and Technology to Manage Future Waves’, organised by C40 – a network of 40 major megacities around the world committed to addressing climate change.

The session explored how advanced technology and data science was used to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in Dubai and how it can help cities better manage any potential future challenges.

During the session, Younus Al Nasser, Assistant Director-General of Smart Dubai, CEO of the Dubai Data Establishment, showcased the city’s success story in leveraging the power of data to build and govern a holistic and people-centric smart city in Dubai, allowing government entities and businesses to develop products and services powered by emerging technologies.

“Data science and technology have revolutionised virtually every sector in the economy and drastically transformed every aspect of our lives. It is a powerful tool with the potential to achieve great results, so it is only natural that we use it to address one of the most pressing challenges our world is facing – and indeed, has ever faced. Climate change threatens to upend existing systems, but with accurate and reliable data, authorities can make the right decisions to alleviate its dangers and ensure a better future for our world,” Al Nasser said.

Smart Dubai introduced attendees to its vision of what defines a holistic data ecosystem, citing the four pillars – Value Creation, where the COVID-19 Dashboard and the Food Security Dashboard were given as examples; Ecosystem Engagement with the Dubai Data Champions; Data Infrastructure where Smart Dubai launched Dubai Pulse; and Data Governance, which Dubai ensures by implementing the Dubai Data Law.

Smart Dubai also presented their COVID-19 Dashboard and the Food Security Dashboard as prominent use cases. The former was built in partnership with Dubai’s COVID-19 Command and Control Centre and serves to monitor and predict the spread of COVID-19, enabling authorities to make informed decisions. The project relies on accurate and reliable data on various metrics, such as the total number of infections by type, cumulative numbers of infections, recoveries, and critical cases across Dubai, as well as logistical information like the number of facilities and medical supplies available at each.

The Dubai Food Security Dashboard is an AI and data science powered platform that provides live updates on five important indicators for food security: the supply index, stock availability, domestic production, consumption and the price index for all vital F&B commodities in Dubai.

Dubai joined C40 in 2015, before being elected two years later in 2017 to the C40 Steering Committee, where it is represented by the General Secretariat of the Executive Council.

Since joining the Network, the emirate has participated in various workshops, conferences and global forums, sharing its experience and success in the field of sustainable infrastructure, combatting climate change, waste reduction and curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

Source: Emirates News Agency

Dubai, Dubai Municipality’s Knowledge and Innovation Department has won first place at the 2021 International Best Practice Competition in the ‘Institutional Innovation Category’.

The Department won with a seven-star rating, the highest rating in the Award.

The achievement was made during the Municipality’s participation in the 2021 Business Excellence Conference in New Zealand, where it presented its experiences in innovation and knowledge management and its efforts to achieve the objectives of the national innovation strategies and its innovation and knowledge strategy.

Dawoud Al Hajri, Director-General of Dubai Municipality, said: “Under the guidance and vision of the leadership, Dubai Municipality continues to seek to achieve the highest levels of excellence in performance and adoption of best practices that encourage innovation and are in line with Dubai’s digital transformation. Our aim is to provide the best quality services to the community and to make Dubai the best city in the world to live and work in.

“We are honoured to have won first place in the Institutional Innovation Category of this prestigious Award with a seven-star rating. This achievement indicates that we are on the right track towards achieving our mission, which seeks to ensure the happiness and comfort of the community. It also encourages us to work harder to maintain this position,” Al Hajri added.

The International Best Practice Competition aims to honor institutions with pioneering achievements and contributions that encourage a culture of innovation in all aspects of operations. The evaluation criteria covered leadership and strategic planning, training and employment of innovation and continuous development, tools and methods for innovation processes, and managing ideas and best practices, facilities and resources.

It also took into consideration efforts to spread a culture of innovation among employees, relationships with partners by building effective internal and external communication networks, and also measured innovation performance.

Dubai Municipality achieved excellent results in the Award’s various criteria, winning the praise of all members of the jury. The Municipality’s commitment to strengthening its innovation and knowledge system, knowledge exchange activities and spreading the culture of innovation in projects and services was evident. It also achieved the best results in measuring the impact of innovation management practices.

Source: Emirates News Agency