State of Environment (SOE)

The government of Abu Dhabi and the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi (EAD) recognize that access to the latest information on the state of our environment is critical to making the right decisions in environmental management and also in understanding the potential impact on the environment of decisions not directly related to the environment.

The report covers the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and it is structured around six major themes: Atmosphere, Water, Land, Coastal and Marine, Biodiversity and Waste. Key environmental issues are identified within these themes through data for various core environmental indicators.

The State of Environment is an analysis that looks at the current status of the environment of a country, focusing on the driving forces, pressures, current state, impacts and responses taken up by the government of a nation. It is considered globally as a standard tool used to facilitate management of the environment.

When considering the driving forces of the country, socio-economic and sociocultural forces are taken into account as the underlying factors that influence human activities and development. Pressures are human activities that affect the natural environment and change its state. Typical examples are emissions of polluting substances and resource exploitation such as land use. The current condition of the environment is assessed in order to determine effects of changes in state on both environment and society, followed by an analysis of the responses which are the possible mitigations set by the government and society to the environmental situation.

The benefits of the State of Environment report include:

> Assisting decision makers in the development of effective policies and informing them of areas that are in greater need of policies

> Informing environmental agencies about the driving forces, general pressures, impacts and responses on the environment in order for them to assist decision makers

> Providing a message to environmental educational programs and the society on the status of their environment and how they can improve their ways and live more sustainable lifestyles

For the emirate of Abu Dhabi, the report is used to gather policy relevant information, in order to conduct an environmental outlook which analyses the effectiveness of policies by taking into account different indicators and including scenario modeling for the bigger picture focusing on how everything interacts with each other. An action plan can then be created for the emirate of Abu Dhabi to assist decision makers in shaping sustainable societies

Click here to visit the SOE website.