Razan Al Mubarak has been at the forefront of the UAE's successful efforts in the conservation of key species over the last decade. Like most mothers, she aspires for her daughter to grow up in a world of clean air and water, graced by nature. Unlike most three-year-olds, however, that little girl has a parent…
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Climate change playbook is a threat to the conservation cause
As preparations get underway for a landmark UN-sponsored conference on biodiversity in China next year, a leading conservationist has given warning that the issue needs to be seen as separate to the climate change agenda. Razan Al Mubarak, the head of the Mohammed Bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, told a panel at the Paris Peace…
Statement as Nominee for IUCN President
Within the next year, we will see important environmental negotiations and hopefully commitments to decisive actions by the world's nations. There will be the drive to agree to a new set of targets for halting biodiversity loss during the 2020 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Conference. Furthermore, the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) will take…
Species Conservation: The power of IUCN's science to guide policies and actions
In 2008, Abu Dhabi hosted the first IUCN Species Survival Commission's Specialist Group Chairs meeting. It was a decisive moment for the SSC. It was the first face-to-face meeting of all the Specialist Group Chairs. Since then, the SSC leadership has met in Abu Dhabi in 2012 and 2015 and again in October 2019. Four…
EAD hosts 4th IUCN Species Survival Commission Leaders' Meeting in Abu Dhabi
Under the patronage of the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi, EAD, the Species Survival Commission, SSC, of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN, today opened its four-day Leaders' Meeting in the UAE capital. The conference has brought together more than 350 conservation experts, including the IUCN Secretariat and other IUCN commissions, Red List…
Species Conservation Experts to Unite in Abu Dhabi to Enhance Global Action for Biodiversity
The highly anticipated gathering of international experts aims to heavily influence the functioning, growth and integration of species conservation work. Eleven years after the first International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission (SCC) Leaders' Meeting held in Al Ain in 2008, the leadership of the IUCN and SSC will meet again from…
World Ocean Summit: Arabian Gulf faces climate change challenge
Environmental leaders have warned that the Arabian Gulf faces a daunting challenge in combating climate change. Razan Al Mubarak, managing director of the Environment Agency–Abu Dhabi, told delegates at the World Ocean summit that the region was particularly vulnerable to increases in global temperatures. Read the full article in The National.
The world's oceans are a gift of nature that we all have a duty to preserve
It's called the “blue marble” for a reason. Looking at the Earth from space, the enormous swaths of brilliant turquoise and navy blue dominate the picture, yet we focus so much of our attention on the landmasses floating amid all the water. Our oceans are the largest ecosystem on Earth – responsible for generating approximately…
Ban Ki-moon asks youth to challenge leaders for sustainability
Ban was having a conversation with Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, secretary-general of the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi, about “Sustainable Development Goals in practice,” at the Future Sustainability Summit. The former UN chief appreciated the UAE's sustainability initiatives: “Many countries should emulate what the UAE is doing. Its leadership is investing wisely in the nation's resources as…