Spotlight

Turning green urban spaces into sustainable investment opportunities was the topic of a session at the AIM Investment Summit held in Abu Dhabi 7-9 April. AFED Secretary General, Najib Saab, highlighted AFED position in 3 main points:

1- As accessible green spaces are public property, it is for the public sector to invest. But greening will make these areas popular, thus attracting investments from private developers. To make greening bare areas investable for the private sector, some exclusive rights could be given, like operating shops or restaurants. But strict rules should be in place to avoid greenwashing- by not allowing a company to use charity contributions to cover up its polluting operations.

2- In the Arab region, urban greening comes at various levels, within the limitations of nature. The contradiction is that some cities which were historically green, with natural water supply, like Beirut, Cairo and Alexandria, are losing their public gardens and green cover to urban development, while others in totally arid zones like Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Riyadh have expanded their green cover to about 9%. They did so by utilizing treated wastewater for irrigation. While UAE imports one million tons of soil annually for land reclamation, further treating the one million tons of sludge produced in UAE from sewage treatment can make it ready to use as soil, as demonstrated at the event by a Russian company. This will create a sort of ‘circular economy’. In all cases, the desert ecosystem should be preserved- keeping balance with artificial greening. And as food security and water security are interlinked, including a certain percentage of edible plants could be part of urban greening.

3- Sound public policies are the main factor in sustainable development planning. A minimum percentage of green public spaces should be imposed on municipalities and local authorities, as well as green spaces and certain number of trees in commercial developments. Incentives could be considered to encourage private sector to go further, such as tax breaks and extra areas allowed for building permits, against creating and maintaining green roofs, especially in crowded cities where land is limited.