At the same time, there are a whole range of issues related to sustainable development which we must also address. It is, for example, utterly unacceptable in the 21st century that hundreds of millions of people still lack access to safe drinking water, or to sufficient food, or to proper employment opportunities, health care and housing.

The relationships between environmental conservation and the need for sustainable development are complex, and often difficult to comprehend. These relationships are often conflicting rather than complimentary. Thus in the UAE, for example, the demands of our rising population mean that there is a growing demand for fresh water. Since the UAE is in the world's arid zone, the only way in which we can obtain the fresh water is through desalination plants which themselves have an effect, as yet incompletely studied, on the inshore marine environment. Yet we have no choice but to opt for desalination.

Moreover, there is often no agreement on the nature of the relationship. Global warming and sea level changes, for example, are issues on which scientists still disagree. They may be able to agree that it's happening, but disagree on the causes and the results. Alternatively, they may even disagree altogether on how to interpret the available data.

One problem, of course, is the data itself. Information is not always collected in the same way, thus making interpretation and comparison difficult, if not actually impossible.

It is for that reason that the United Arab Emirates launched its Abu Dhabi Environmental Data Initiative, AGEDI, at the recent Johannesburg summit. We recognize, from our own experience, the difficulty of obtaining data in a standardised format even at a national level. Globally, in the current circumstances, comparable datasets simply donít exist.

The objective of the AGEDI is to address the issue of data collection on a global level, and to try to draw up a set of guidelines that, over time, will permit assessment of issues related to environmental conservation and sustainable development on a global level, with comparable datasets and standards. Only thus can we hope to be able to address these key issues properly.

The AGEDI has already been welcomed by bodies such as the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, and by a number of other organisations and Governments, and we believe that it has a real chance of success. Initially, we plan to undertake a pilot project in the United Arab Emirates, through which we seek to identify the problems, and propose solutions. This is not simply a national initiative--international experts are intimately involved in the planning process, and will also be involved throughout the work on the pilot project.

Internationally, there are major challenges to be faced. In many regions, data collection is virtually nonexistent. Where data does exist, there are differences in its application from country to country. The United States and Europe have similar systems of applying data, but Mexico, the southern neighbour of the USA, has a completely different system.

The needs of countries differ too. In the United Arab Emirates, we are obliged to desalinate water, because we lack sufficient fresh water resources. Canada or Switzerland, on the other hand, have abundant supplies of fresh water. African countries need to develop in order to meet the need of their people for food and jobs, with an inevitable impact on the environment. The developed countries, though, tackled these tasks many years ago. It is both unreasonable and impractical to impose the same rules on very different countries.

And yet we all agree on the need for environmental conservation and sustainable development. The AGEDI is seeking to tackle the challenges of stimulating more data collection and of working towards global standards of data application, within a framework that recognises the diversity of countries and regions. There are no cast iron guarantees of success, but these are challenges that we must face. We invite other countries and regions to join us in the effort.

If we are to address the issues of environmental conservation and of sustainable development effectively on a global level, we have to make a start now, with many years of work ahead.

In the United Arab Emirates, we are determined to tackle this process. Simply, we will not be able to achieve our goals of conservation of the environment and biodiversity and of providing our people with a steadily-improving standard of living within a framework of sustainable development unless we do so. We look forward to working with others of a similar viewpoint as the AGEDI gets under way.

(His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan is Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, and Deputy Chairman, Environmental Research and Wildlife Development Agency, of the United Arab Emirates.)