The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has become a leader in environmental conservation and sustainable development in recent years, with innovative projects and substantial investments in natural capital.
From 2023 to 2025, we worked with 4EI and Sustain Value on a natural capital accounting project, funded by the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MoCCaE).
Our main goal was to compile a range natural capital accounts to support the UAE Biodiversity Strategy, and to develop a range of potential scenarios to support decision making. In delivering this project, we:
- built stakeholder capacity in a natural capital approach through workshops
- organised available data into natural capital accounts on extent, condition and 10 ecosystem services (physical and monetary)
- demonstrated how this data could be integrated with scenario analysis, including agricultural suitability, protected areas, mangrove restoration and urban green space expansion
- developed recommendations for integrating a natural capital approach and data across government.
These natural capital accounts provide the foundation for the UAE to continue to embed natural capital concepts and data within policy.