This project provided consultancy services to assess the groundwater resources of the Ajman Emirate through establishment of a network of groundwater monitoring wells. Establishing a groundwater-monitoring network was deemed important to measure changes in groundwater quality and levels over time. This enabled the monitoring of aquifer flow characteristics and groundwater salinity. Fifteen new monitoring wells were drilled at selected locations in Ajman City with total depths between 20 and 100 m. The data is wireless transmitted to the headquarter office of Ajman Municipality to support the operation and decision making in relation to groundwater management.

In a collaborative effort the Al Ain City Municipality, the National Water and Energy Center and the Department of Integrative Agriculture at UAEU are conducting large-scale field experiments to develop water-saving landscaping practices. One of the experiments conducted in the Sulaimi park strives to assess the optimum input levels of fertilizers and irrigation water for eight different native desert plant species cultivated for landscaping purposes. The experiment comparing different species for their water and fertilizer input requirements. All tested plant species are grown either under a high, medium, low or very low level of fertilizer and irrigation water input. It is one of the largest scientific field trials ever conducted on the use of native plants for landscaping in the Region.

The main objective of this project was to the review the literature related to climate change modeling and its impacts on United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the region. Although no new research is proposed at this stage, except for the discussion on the recent rainfall trends in UAE, the existing information and results of previous studies were integrated, discussed, and analyzed to provide a better understanding of possible impacts of climate change on the environmental system of UAE and the region.

This project provided two contributions. First, it summarized the results from the (macro-) economic assessments of mitigation, adaptation, and diversification conducted in the UAE. Second, through a literature review of economic studies on climate change policies, it identified steps to improve the UAE’s capability to conduct macro-economic, environmental, and social assessments of climate change policies and impacts.

The project aimed to Conduct high precision survey to obtain precise coordinates and elevations for 500 wells over Abu Dhabi Emirate and establish a reference point at each well for use during future water level measurements. The survey was applied to 500 existing groundwater monitoring wells within Abu Dhabi Emirate to determine their precise coordinates and elevations. These values were utilized by the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi to establish reference points for water level measurements which are taken either at the top of the casing or at the top of the concrete foundation.