These are my notes when chairing the opening ceremony of Eye On Earth. I’m sharing them because the people involved are phenomenal and key advocates of the things we need to do to save humankind. Mother Earth will keep going. We won’t. Unless we change. And fast.
السلام عليكم
سمو الشيخ نهيان بن زايد ال نهيان
رئيس مجلس مؤسسة أمناء زايد للأعمال الإنسانية و الخيرية،
رئيس مجلس أبوظبي الرياضي.
معالي الحضور.
السيدات والسادة الكرام.
أهلا ومرحبا بكم الى قمة “عين على الأرض“
Your highness Sheikh Nahyan bin Zayed Al Nahyan,
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation and
Chairman of Abu Dhabi Sports Council
Your excellencies. Distinguished guests. Ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome to Eye on Earth. My name is Nima and I’ll be guiding you through proceedings over the next few days.
It gives me great pleasure to be here, because what you’re discussing is vital to every single person, creature and any and every form of life the world over.
You all know about the challenges of making sense of the enormous volumes of information that are being churned out every second of every day. So I won’t touch upon that.
Instead, I’d like to share a story that I believe epitomises the essence of what we are here to do – the bigger picture.
For me it hits the mark because it joins the dots, show us – literally – how one thing can change another, and lets us see how information is key.
It’s the story of how the Sahara – the sahara desert that is – keeps the Amazon green.
I’m sure many of you know the details, but allow me to share:
We are now able to see – very clearly – how thousands of tonns of dust – 22 thousand in fact – travel nearly 5 thousand kilometres – from the desert of the Sahara along north Africa – to the Amazon basin each year.
You couldn’t have two more different places. And now we can see one way they’re linked.
The Saharan dust carries within it phosphorous. Not only is it a nutrient very much needed by the plants of the rainforests – but the amount that’s deposited there by this phenomenon is just enough to replace what’s lost in the Amazon due to rain and flooding.
There’s a video of this that you can watch online, courtesy of data made available by NASA.
Does anyone know what happens with the dust that doesn’t make it to the end of the long trip? Things like Satellites can give us big, sweeping information, but detail on the ground is also key.
In-step citizen journalists – as well as the professionals – they’re being engaged in many ways to collate and share information. Not everyone’s happy about this, but I’ll leave that point for now.
Now all this is very exciting. But how we manage and check information is key.
Not all information is created equal:
Not all is credible.
Enormous volumes of it can create clutter.
Plus there’s the issue of who owns the data – and more.
Let us remember though that Data is only as good as the intelligence we can glean from it.
I look forward to learning more from you over the next few days. Here’s to creating a healthier planet.
والان لنرحب بالامين العام لهيئة البيئة في أبو ظبي – ومضيفة الحدث ـ ،
سعادة رزان خليفة المبارك.
And now, to start proceedings, please join me in welcoming the
Secretary General of the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi
Her Excellency Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak
وزير الدولة للشؤون الخارجية بالإضافة لمهامه كوزير الدولة لشؤون المجلس الوطني
معالي الدكتور أنور محمد قرقاش العوضي
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, and Minister of State for the Federal National Council Affairs, United Arab Emirates.
Please welcome His Excellency Dr. Anwar Mohammed Gargash,
Please welcome the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme and Undersecretary General of the United Nations.
Bio: Mr. Achim Steiner,
وزير البيئة والمياه بدولة الامارات العربية المتحدة
: رئيس مجلس ادارة هيئة الامارات للمواصفات والمقاييس.
معالي د راشد أحمد بن فهد
Please welcome the UAE Minister of Environment and Water
His Excellency Dr. Rashid Ahmed Bin Fahad
VIDEO PLAYED WHEN HE WALKS UP. I CAN STAND OR SIT.
والان لنستمع الى كلمة الامين العام لهيئة البيئة في أبو ظبي – ومضيفة الحدث ـ ،
سعادة رزان خليفة المبارك.
And now, to start proceedings, please join me in welcoming the
Secretary General of the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi
Her Excellency Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak
NB she gives cue to tribute video
سعادة رزان خليفة المبارك
شكرا لك.
وزير الدولة للشؤون الخارجية بالإضافة لمهامه كوزير الدولة لشؤون المجلس الوطني
معالي الدكتور أنور محمد قرقاش العوضي
Our next speaker has been vocal about issues affecting both the Arabian Gulf and the global community.
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, and Minister of State for the Federal National Council Affairs, United Arab Emirates.
Please welcome His Excellency Dr. Anwar Mohammed Gargash,
Thank H.E Dr. Gargash and invite Achim Steiner on Stage
Our next speaker has been tackling the very difficult, but vital intersection between between environmental sustainability, social equity and economic development.
Please welcome the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme and Undersecretary General of the United Nations.
Bio: Mr. Achim Steiner,
Thank Mr. Steiner and welcome Dr. Rashid Ahmed Bin Fahad on Stage
والان سنستمع الى كلمة وزير البيئة والمياه بدولة الامارات العربية المتحدة، وهو يشغل منصبا يصب في قلب القمة: رئيس مجلس ادارة هيئة الامارات للمواصفات والمقاييس.
معالي د راشد أحمد بن فهد
Our next speaker chairs a number of environmental committees – and, feeding straight into the core of what we are here to dissect – he’s Chairman of the Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology
Please welcome the UAE Minister of Environment and Water
His Excellency Dr. Rashid Ahmed Bin Fahad
سمو الشيخ نهيان بن زايد ال نهيان
نشكرك حضورك و مشاركتك هذا الحدث الهام.
Your highness Sheikh Nahyan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, thank you for joining us here today.
Open Plenary 1 by introducing the Topic for the session
Data demand – Data revolution and institutional transformation is the title of our first plenary.
Where are we now and where do we need to get to next.
I’m sure our next speaker was more excited than most to know that water ice exists below the surface of Mars. Because he heads up the UAE’s Space Agency – with a special focus to explore Mars.
Maybe one day he’ll be able to share with us whether there is life on Mars.
Please welcome – Mr Mohammad Nasser Al Ahbabi.
Thank you very much Mohammad Al Ahbabi.
12:12-12:13
Our next speaker is the Permanent Representative of the United Arab Emirates to the International Renewable Energy Agency “IRENA” – which this week put out its Africa 2030 report that focuses on how to use more renewable resources to power the continent.
Please welcome Director of Energy & Climate Change at UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
His Excellency Dr. Thani El Zeyoudi,
12:23-12:24 – Thank Dr Thani and welcome Ms. Naoko Ishii on Stage
Bio: Naoko Ishi, CEO and Chairperson of Global Environment Facility
Better access for data and information. To deliver the sustainable development goals.
I’m sure all of you know the recently announced Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations. But how many of you know what happened at the meetings in New York – where the action happened.
Well, our next speaker knows first hand, because she was there.
and I look forward to her sharing what she gleaned from the meeting as an insider.
Here to talk us through the need for better access to data and information in order to deliver these goals, please join me in welcoming the CEO and Chairperson of Global Environment Facility
Naoko Ishi
12:34-12:35 – Thank Naoko Ishii and welcome Mr. Mathis Wackernagel on Stage
What do we have available.
What do we use.
What are the pieces of the plant’s resources that each of us consumes. Think about it. What we wear, eat, do. Where does it come from. What does it take to create it, and get it to us.
That’s kind of what our next speaker does.
He is co-creator of the Ecological Footprint and President of Global Footprint Network – an international sustainability think-tank focusing on bringing about a sustainable human economy in which all can live well, within the means of one planet.
Bio: Dr. Mathis Wackernagel
12:45-12:46 – Thank Mr Wackernagel welcome Mr. Robbie Schingler on Stage
So along the lines of the opening story – of NASA showing us the Saharan desert fertisling the green forests of latin america, the work of our next speaker, who in fact used to work for NASA – but left to give us access to what we cannot see – his work will show us the picture – the big picture. His quest is to make satellite images accessible. To bring them to the public domain.
I especially love the tag line of his website: ‘welcome to your planet’.
Co-Founder and President of Planet Labs.
Bio: Robbie Schingler,
12:56-12:57 – Thank all the speakers and
ladies and gentlemen:
70% of our planet is one connected ocean.
It produces half the oxygen we breath.
It feeds one billion people.
I didn’t know these figures. And I am shocked. Shocked that
this is 2015 – and nobody is monitoring the temperature of the ocean at depth.
But someone is making sure that changes.
We’re being treated to a special guest speaker. Someone who lives by the code of caring about our earth – which is family legacy in fact.
Here to talk about the first global effort to measure temperature of oceans world wide. This is vital because any small fluctuation can have a devastating effect on the eco-system.
Welcome special guest speaker –
Pierre Yves Cousteau
Bio: special guest – Mr. Pierre-Yves Cousteau.
As the youngest son of the legendary explorer, author and filmmaker Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Pierre-Yves has inherited his father’s passion for marine conservation. He is the founder of Cousteau Divers, a global non-profit citizen science platform of divers united to study and protect the world’s oceans and marine life.
