UAE researchers study climate change impact in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi / WAM

Climate change can have a devastating impact on the environment, land and daily life, and that is what Professor Taoufik Ksiksi, in the Department of
Biology at the United Arab
Emirates University’s (UAEU) College of Science, is setting out to prove. His project on the impact of climate change on land use in Abu Dhabi looks at how it manifests itself from environmental and socio-economic
perspectives.
Three months ago, Dr. Ksiksi began collecting surveys from different groups, including farmers, experts, professionals, as well as people living in Abu Dhabi, to look at the economic impact of climate change. This includes noticeable changes residents have had in their expenses over the past 30 years, related to land use change, electricity and the price of land, among other factors.
From the environmental perspective, he is setting out to gather satellite data to determine whether any changes can be observed in land use. The images look at historical and future changes in land use classes over Abu Dhabi.
Following a visit to Dr. Ksiksi’s laboratory by Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, satellite images were provided for his research. “We are now in the process of the first initial preparation of images, since they have to be prepared before any analysis is done. We will then perform a set of classification algorithms, then compare those land use classes to what has been done in 2005 images and see what has changed. That will take a good 12 months.”
The research is also being conducted by Latifa Al Balooshi, an Emirati PhD student, who has been working in this area for two years. She will be visiting a laboratory in Gulf University, Bahrain, next semester, to work on classification processes and receive hands-on experience in remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems.
The study will also help the government in planning for the future and suggest the use of research and development into ways to minimise the impact of climate change on daily life, including the use of energy, electricity and the impact of green buildings.
Initial results have shown a noticeable increase in green areas in Abu Dhabi, especially from the aspect of palm tree plantings.