The Abu Dhabi Civil Defence in Managing the Emirates Environment - Term Paper Example

Environmental safety in Abu Dhabi (Student’s Name and Number) (Institution) (Course) (Module Name and Number) (Instructor’s Name) January 21 2009 Introduction Abu Dhabi is the largest of the seven Emirates of the United Arabs Emirates (UAE) that is currently developing at a very high rate to challenge the dominance of Dubai as the most famous and wealthy emirate of the country. As the Emirate grows fuelled by the oil and gas industry, it has emulated a certain phenomenon like all other developed and developing countries in the world in terms of environmental pollution. In realization of this fact, the Abu Dhabi government in conjunction with the central government has established many regulatory authorities to oversee the management of a very fragile environment. One of the very many authorities established is the Civil Defence. However, its formation was not entirely focused on environmental protection as we are going to see later in the paper but environmental management was just one of the broad areas it covers. As a sort of “general purpose” organisation in the Abu Dhabi government, it fits well in incorporating the population of the emirate into environmental management as it directly deals with people on protection issues as its name suggests. In this paper therefore, I present a possible environmental management plan that can be adopted by the Abu Dhabi Civil Defence in managing the Emirate’s environment. It is based on a theoretical framework drawn from environmental management plans and systems explained by different authors and experts in this subject. Environmental overview The emirate has the highest annual waste turnover per citizen in the world at 730 Kgs. This is way much higher than it is in the US where annual per capita waste is 710 Kgs and much lower in other countries especially the less developed ones. http://www.uae.gov.ae/Government/environment.htm#ENVIRONMENTAL%20ISSUES. Though this level of wastage provides a pointer to the depth of the problem, managing the waste still remains a different issue as countries and regions with relatively lower per capita waste turnover have evidently polluted and mismanaged environment. While this might not be the case in Abu Dhabi, there is some level of uniqueness that guarantees special consideration. This is so as the economy and the whole region is driven by the oil and gas industry where both of them are marked environmental pollutants as Al-Azab et al (2005) notes of how gas flairs and oil spillage in addition to silting have a negative environmental impact. According to official statistics from the Abu Dhabi government, the air and oil industry are the main pollutants of the environment through various modes such as air, water (marine), soil, sound etc. Air pollution is mainly caused by emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ground-level ozone (O3), particulate matter (PM10) and lead (Pb). With the gas and oil industry leading in pollution, related pollutants are released at point sources such in electricity production where 99% is from gas, line sources such as through transportation and distribution areas such as gas stations, factories etc. http://www.soe.ae/Abu_Themespage.aspx?m=226. Sound pollution is mainly caused by large-scale diesel powered electricity generators that account for 1% of the electricity produced in the Emirate. Water pollution from the gas and oil industry is witnessed through marine sedimentation, oil spills and leakages into the few water resources in the area. However, such pollution is most commonly carried out by big companies which are mainly targeted by environmental authorities leaving out the possible role that can be played by the Civil Defence. Civil Defence and the environment The civil defence was formed by the UAE’s federal government under the Interior Ministry. In its entirety, the interior ministry in UAE in concerned about the security of the country and its people. For the Civil Defence, it is mandated with keeping the locals safe among them from environmental hazards. As a federal institution, the Civil Defence has its mission, though not explicitly stated as “ensures the protection of people and public and private property, guarantees the normal functioning of communications and transport, and ensuring the continuity of social activities in public premises”. http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:FPYqhSz4U84J:www.icdo.org/pdf/struc/uae-en.pdf+organisation+abu+dhabi+civil+defence&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1. In achieving the set mission, some of the common roles are: Identifying hazards and risks and intercepting them accordingly Rescuing, evacuating and assisting victims in case of environmental hazards and accidents Contributing to the restoration of public and private establishments in the stricken regions; Overseeing implementation of fire risk prevention measures in public and private buildings Establishing emergency and rapid intervention units to complement existing ones. Evaluating degree of risk in certain areas and updating data on that. Due to the high frequency of fires and most of them gas related, much of the activities of the Civil Defence department have been fire related and more domestic cases. Therefore, in developing an environment management plan for the Abu Dhabi Civil Defence department, it will have to be related with the core functions of the department as set out during its establishment. In developing a comprehensive management plan, a deep evaluation of a number of theories presented from various sources must be reviewed. While most of them make sense, their applicability due to constraining factors is considered to ensure efficiency and that the plan is sustainable in the long run implying that its short term efficiency do not compromise future efficiency of the plan or status of the environment. The plan has also to take into consideration the existing factors and the role of the government and the people in this plus other stakeholders. This will ensure that the plan is practicable and that its progression and evaluations are quantifiable. Optimal Control Theory for Sustainable Environmental Management by Yogendra Shastri, Urmila Diwekar and Heriberto Cabezas This theory was developed by the three authors in the need to introduce a comprehensive model through organizations and governments can adopt in their environmental management policies. It aims at introducing a more environmentally sustainable way through which the human component in the environment can sustain its structure and operation while at the same time maintaining the structure and the operation of the natural component. This maybe viewed to be some sort of coexistence of man and his environment where a symbiotic relationship is maintained. By these, the authors suggest that man as part of the environment himself to the otherwise natural components of the environment have a right to it while at the same time the natural environment though it cannot be said to have a right to the human hand is exposed to his activities. As such, the authors of this theory suggest that the relationship should be mutual so as to benefit both parties. This theory was developed in response to the realisation that more often than not the relationship is one sided: where man is the beneficiary without giving back. Therefore, without giving enough or no room at al to the natural environment to refresh and reintroduce itself, the main components of the natural environment are on the decline. It is therefore the role of man as the beneficiary of the environment to give back to the environment in term of ensuring its sustainability. In whole, this theory looks at the different ways as suggested by its authors in searching for environmentally healthy ways through which to exploit the environment. However, weight is awarded to the ‘repair’ of an already damaged environment given that it was formulated I response to the observable degradation of the environment. This is accomplished through two approaches; formulating objectives and formulating strategies to achieve the set objectives. Optimal control theory and the Abu Dhabi Civil Defence With the main functions of the Abu Dhabi Civil Defence already outlined, it becomes a bit hard to see how this theory fits into the operations of an organisation that is seemingly involved in “Red Cross oriented” activities such as rescue and the like. However, a keen look into the participating activities in the course of living to its name, the organisation has a link into how their subjects in terms of the public/civilians and itself as an individual organization are involved in optimally controlling the environment. As the word optimal suggests, the whole idea of the theory is to make full use of the environment without choking it. Now how can we choke the environment? According to the developers of this theory, excessive wastage of both naturally occurring and man-made materials with no place in the ecological cycle interferes with the natural arrangement and order of things as intended by Mother Nature. Therefore Civil Defence will adopt this theory to prevent choking of the environment. As a region prone to gas and oil fires, the Civil Defence plays a vital role in ensuring the safe fighting of fires and the prevention of the same. Al-Azab et al (2005) also informs as that not only these types of fires are common, there has risen many cases of agriculture related fires from hay fields as a number of civilians have opted for farming. These fires are facilitated by the hot, dry and windy weather conditions. This is accomplished by educating civilians about fire fighting techniques. Civil Defence will educate farmers on how to erect fire resistant barriers to prevent rapid fire spread. Recent studies on fire fighting and environmental conservation have proved that as much as fires are harmful to the environment, some of the ways and means of extinguishing such fires are indeed harmful to the environment. As such it is the role of the Civil Defence to participate in the formulations of laws and regulations providing a guideline on safe fire fighting. For instance the use of carbon dioxide based fire extinguishers should be discouraged as it adds to the already excess green house emissions. This will in fact complement measures by the Abu Dhabi government and the federal government to cut harmful emissions from all operations. This is most notable trough the phasing out of leaded petrol and the introduction of bio-fuels for the country’s national carrier. Again the Abu Dhabi Emirate plans to reduce the number of vehicles running on petrol/diesel engines by 20% by 2013. http://www.ead.ae/en/?T=4&ID=1505. The use of alternative fire extinguishers is also encouraged by the authors of this model. There are two common types of chemical based extinguishers: sodium/potassium bicarbonate and ammonium sulphate. Sodium/potassium bicarbonates are most environmentally friendly than the latter. Ammonium sulphate is more corrosive and there are high chances that it will undergo hydrolysis to form phosphoric acid which is hazardous to the environment and also humans.. Another safer extinguisher though costly is Hydrofluorocarbon-236fa or HFC-236fa. It has a 100% zero effect on the ozone. http://www.ilpi.com/safety/extinguishers.html This theory also suggests that natural resources should be utilised to the maximum to reduce wastage. Therefore, with Abu Dhabi having the highest per capita wastage in the world, it the role of Civil Defence to encourage reuse of reusable materials by households and companies. This would take place such as reducing use of plastic shopping bags and campaigning for imposition heavy taxes on manufacturers to discourage Objectives Within the first year of implementation, annual per capita waste shall have reduced to around 710Kgs Households shall have adopted recycling and reuse mechanisms to achieve the set out per capita wastage levels. Expenditure on waste disposal by relevant bodies will have reduced by 20% in one year. Use CO2 based fire extinguishers will be reduced by 15% in the first year and reduce green house gas emission by around 1%. Taxes on plastic bags should be increased by 10% to discourage wastage and encourage reuse of the bags. Manufacturers will have reduced plastic packaging by 5% within one year of implementation. Reduce the number of harmful gas emission related infections by 10% in one year. Criticism of the optimal control theory through Complexity theory by Michael Crichton This theory according to the founder calls for non interference by humans on natural occurrences such as the environment. He says that panicky measures instituted by man such as the optimal control theory are disastrous to the environment in the long run and hence things should be allowed to run on their own. He views the panic over depletion of natural resources as misplaced as earlier fears over specific natural occurrences have not materialised. He gives examples of the prediction of depletion of oil by 1990’s, population explosion and subsequent starvation by over 70 million people in the 1970’s etc. Therefore he sees such theories as this one valueless in that things will take their natural “good” path. Crichton (2005) Conclusion Activities by Civil Defence will be in futility if the whole world is not involved in conserving the environment in order to have a uniform direction by adopting this or any of other viable environmental management theories. References Al-Azab, M., El-Shorbagy and Al-Ghais, Oil pollution and its environmental impact in the Arabian Gulf region, Elsevier, London, 2005 Crichton, M (2005) Complexity theory, Retrieved from http://www.crichton-official.com/speech-complexity.html on 20th Jan 2009. Friedman, F., Practical Guide to Environmental management, Environmental Law Institute, New York, 2003 EL Gawad, E., Lotfy, M., Sadooni, F., and El. Katheery, B. Assessment of the Oil Pollution Extent in the Offshore Sediments, Abu Dhabi, UAE, retrieved from http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:6LzN1Fx5KG4J:www.insinet.net/ajbas/2008/617-631.pdf+oil+exploration+in+abu+dhabi+pollution&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3 on 20th jan 2009 Shastri, Y., Diwekar, U., and Cabezas, H., Optimal Control Theory for Sustainable Environmental Management, ACS publications, New York, 2008 http://www.ead.ae/en/?T=4&ID=1505, (Accessed on 18th Jan 2009) http://www.ilpi.com/safety/extinguishers.html, (Accessed on 19th Jan 2009) http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:FPYqhSz4U84J:www.icdo.org/pdf/struc/uae-en.pdf+organisation+abu+dhabi+civil+defence&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1, (Accessed on 17th Jan 2009) http://www.hanford.gov/fire/safety/extingrs.htm, ((Accessed on 19th Jan 2009) http://www.uae.gov.ae/Government/environment.htm#ENVIRONMENTAL%20ISSUES, (Accessed on 18th Jan 2009) http://www.reflexpublishingme.com/offshorearabia/press/2006/pr_06_0116.html, (Accessed on 19th Jan 2009) Read More