Dubai: Dubai Municipality has launched the Air Quality Strategy for the emirate of Dubai for 2017-2021, for which it has developed several plans and initiatives to implement over the next five years at a cost of more than Dh500 million.

The strategy, the first of its kind in the region, is aimed at establishing Dubai as one of the world’s cities with the best air quality by 2021, the civic body said on Thursday.

Hussain Nasser Lootah, director-general of Dubai Municipality, said in a press release that the preparation of the strategy took about a year, in coordination and cooperation with the General Secretariat of the Executive Council.

Its objectives are, he said, consistent with the strategic objectives of Dubai 2021 Plan, the main focus of which is based on integrated perspectives and strategic priorities looking ahead to the future striving to make Dubai a smart, sustainable city and a better place to live and work.

Lootah explained that the strategy is based on three main focuses. The first focus is ‘City with World-Class Air Purity Standards’ in order to maintain the global status of Dubai and its innovative nature, which it has established over the past years in many areas.

The second focus is ‘Sectors Grow with Sustainable Vision and Patterns’ to achieve and maintain the balance between development and growth patterns in the emirate and the requirements of maintaining one of the main components of ambient air environment with a sustainable vision and model, in line with the development of a dynamic civil and urban nature, which distinguishes the city from other cities in the world.

The third focus is ‘An Environmentally Educated and Responsible Community’ to maintain the environmental gains of the emirate through awareness and educational operations targeting various segments of the society.

The strategy includes a number of elements of innovation, being the first in the region, to be developed with a vision and objectives to be achieved in short- and long-term periods and in close cooperation with various government and private sectors in Dubai according to the best international practices.

“They include quality initiatives and exceptional projects to make the surrounding air in the emirate comply with global specifications and standards, which is a qualitative shift in the environmental and health fields, because these pollutants adversely affect public health,” said Lootah.

Alia Al Harmoudi, director of Environment Department at the municipality, said that the preliminary stage included several technical reviews of the best recognised international practices, technical analyses of current and future situation in Dubai.

It analysed the data in the municipality’s system for monitoring air quality over the past years, and created accurate digital simulation models for each type of air pollutants, resulting in more than 300 digital maps.

The maps show the locations where pollution levels increase, various sources and how they spread in the air in light of the complex chemical and physical reactions and processes between them and the other elements in the surrounding air and the layers of the atmosphere. They also take into account the different climatic factors that include variation in temperature and humidity levels and characteristics of the various wind speed and direction, and others.

The strategy includes a number of initiatives and projects to be implemented by Dubai Municipality during the next five years, including the development of the environmental monitoring system according to the best international standards. It covers the expansion of this system in line with the increase in the urban area, in addition to a package of applied and scientific studies and research, with an output that is expected to boost Dubai’s air quality sector.

“The launch of the Smart Air Quality stations, one of the initiatives of the municipality, is to support the air quality sector in Dubai. It will provide visitors with the opportunity to experience the most important air quality issues in a unique and modern manner that leaves the greatest impact on the visitors’ imagination and enhances their environmental awareness,” said Al Harmoudi.