Drones, Trees and Carbon Footprints: On the UAE’s Mission to Reduce Carbon Emissions by Planting Over 1 Million Ghaf Trees
Rashid Al Ghurair, Founder of Cafu, has teamed up with soil, plants, and drone experts to plant more than one million Ghaf trees in the UAE within the next two years. Al Ghurair was inspired by the “devastating impact of wildfires across the world”.
This ambitious project, which is the first of its kind in the region, aims to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate the impact of climate change.
Launched in 2018, Cafu is an Emirati start-up and the region’s first fuel-booking application, which aims to provide a smart and more convenient service for consumers.
According to Gulf News, “The drones scan potential areas identifying suitable topography and other parameters like wind speed, wind direction and humidity. This information is then beamed back to a cloud that uses artificial intelligence in real-time to match the preferences of Ghaf tree seeds against areas where vapour is most likely to be condensed as water to create a live map of ideal seed drop locations”.
The Ghaf tree was used as the official emblem for the Year of Tolerance in 2019 because they were known to provide shelter for tribal communities from the sun. The tree requires a minimal amount of water and maintenance to be able to absorb up to 34.65 kg of carbon dioxide per tree, per year.
Such initiatives support the city’s approach to promote green practices and reduce the impact of climate change, such as the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, which aims to produce 75 per cent of Dubai’s energy from clean sources by 2050.
