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“Dugong diplomacy”, an international effort strongly supported by the UAE to conserve the iconic marine animal, is expected to improve fish stocks in 40 nations across the globe. The city is now hosting the third meeting of the signatories to the MoU, attended by delegates from 23 nations along with the world’s leading dugong and seagrass experts.

 

The two-day meeting kicked off weeklong events in Abu Dhabi to focus global attention on the need to protect threatened dugongs. Opening the meeting, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, Dr Thani Ahmad Al Zeyoudi, said: “In line with the UAE Vision 2021, we established several marine protected areas. The UAE’s efforts in the field of biodiversity conservation elevated the country’s ranking in the Marine Reserves Sub-Index within the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) published by Yale University from 33rd place in 2012 to first place in 2014 and 2016.

 

” Secretary-General of the Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi (EAD), Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, said: “If we can encourage fishing communities to adopt practices that don’t destroy seagrass and accidentally catch dugongs, we will have helped secure the future of dugongs, seagrasses and those communities”.