Blue Carbon Environmental and Social Responsibility Project of the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) in collaboration with ENGIE and Distant Imagery, has been selected among the 12 Uplink Ocean Top Innovations.
The drone technology developed by Distant Imagery for the EAD was one of the winners of the Blue Carbon Challenge, which was launched by Friends of Ocean Action, Uplink and the Mangroves Working Group. Conservation International, Coastal Oceans Research and Development – Indian Ocean (CORDIO) East Africa, REV Ocean, and GIB Asset Management were also part of the effort as supporting partners
The Blue Carbon Challenge on UpLink recognizes innovative solutions, projects, and enabling tools that can harness the potential of blue carbon markets to support environmental conservation, habitat restoration, and coastal management for people, and nature, and help combat climate change. The selected 12 UpLink Ocean Top Innovators will receive technical support and valuable connections to implement their projects.
Mr. Ahmed Al Hashmi, Executive Director – Terrestrial & Marine Biodiversity said that “Our project was very ambitious and pioneering because it had never been done before in the region. Through using cutting-edge drone technology to plant mangroves, we are striving for high success rates for restoration. Through projects like ours, we will be able to reduce emissions and capture carbon in natural carbon sinks offering a transitional step to Net-Zero by 2050, which is one of the main goals of the UAE.”
The Project involves striving to plant more than 35,000 mangrove seeds in the Mirfa Lagoon in Abu Dhabi, using highly innovative drone planting technology, in line with the Abu Dhabi Mangrove Initiative launched by H.H. Sheikh Khalid bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, member of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Office, and Prince William, Duke of Edinburgh, in February of this year.
