UAE Team Secures $1 Million Funding Boost For Major Marine Project On Corals

The Mubadala Arabian Centre for Climate and Environmental Sciences, based at New York University Abu Dhabi, has secured a $1 million funding boost to back essential efforts to protect coral reefs against the surging ocean temperatures.

Dalio Philanthropies, a charitable organisation with an interest in protecting the oceans, provided the grant, allowing the UAE climate researchers to carry out two years of work on a Marine project focused on ensuring corals continue to thrive in challenging habitats.

Move Coincides With Hosting Of COP28 Summit

Led by Dr John Burt, NYUAD’s associate professor of biology, the project aims to explore selection and crossbreeding of heat-resistant corals in the Arabian Gulf with heat-sensitive corals found elsewhere to produce corals that can better withstand climate change.

Corals in the Arabian Gulf have proved to be able to fight significantly higher temperatures. Dr Burt’s team realised in initial experiments that crossbreeding UAE corals with Indian Ocean corals could lead to an 84% higher heat tolerance in hybrid offspring.

Corals remain a major part of nature’s ecosystem, providing habitat for marine life and offering shoreline protection. But changes in ocean chemistry due to increased carbon dioxide levels have been causing corals to experience more frequent bleaching and loss.

The partnership is also expected to pave the way for future collaboration with OceanX, an operating programme of Dalio Philanthropies. Mark Dalio, founder of the global ocean exploration non-profit, hailed the upcoming collaboration with the climate researchers.

“Educating The Public About The Ocean Is Necessary”

Dalio underlined the importance of preserving natural resources against the backdrop of a growing climate emergency, noting that “educating the public about the ocean is necessary to ensure the future health and sustainability of our planet.”

Read More: As COP28 Enters Its Final Days, Dubai Targets 50% Emissions Reduction By 2030

The development coincides with the hosting of the COP28 climate conference by Dubai. The Summit has entered its final days, with a substantial portion of the global population considering it successful in terms of the commitments it has been able to record.