The Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD) has announced that it has partnered with Dendra to implement a comprehensive program to assess the state of natural terrestrial habitats across the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

According to Amac News: The EAD announcement states that this systematic approach enabled the EAD to measure the extent and dynamics of changes in the diversity and distribution of local plants related to human uses and human impacts.
This research program is implemented and facilitated by a team of young national talents from the agency and Dendra Company, which specializes in conducting environmental consulting studies using artificial intelligence methods and data collection programs through smart sensors provided to drones.
Dr. Shaikha Salem Al Dhaheri, Secretary General of EAD, said this program is the largest field research project and more than six months of continuous work enabled us to comprehensively survey 11,000 hectares as one and cover most areas of the region.
He emphasized that the expansion of focused environmental research programs by EAD shows its commitment to the protection of the UAE's natural heritage and the development of decisions and measures to increase the adaptation and resistance of natural habitats to climate change.
This approach is aligned with Abu Dhabi's Climate Change Strategy, which seeks to reduce carbon emissions and supports the UAE's efforts to achieve net zero by 2050.
In addition to monitoring and field research, an intelligent geodatabase platform was developed to document all project information. This platform enables the generation of instant reports and detailed statistical analysis.
Based on the preliminary design of the study, EAD has also implemented an operation to disperse seeds of local plant species using drones with a total weight of 70 kg and dispersing them in three areas in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
Each 380 ha area was examined as a baseline to assess how these seeds would respond to natural regeneration associated with rainfall and soil type.
 The team will also conduct an annual study in the same planting areas to measure data on the success of natural germination.