Innovations in Climate Resilience is a new event series hosted by MEI's Climate and Water Program. The series showcases different practical applications that address climate change vulnerability in the MENA region.
Mangrove forests are a surprising superstar for conservation efforts globally. This cost-effective and low-maintenance “super tree” efficiently sequesters blue carbon and is a natural alternative for storing CO2.
Blue Forest, a UAE-based ‘blue carbon’ specialist, is working to implement large-scale mangrove forest restoration world wide. Using technological innovations, Blue Forest seeks to rehabilitate and expand mangrove populations with the goal of sequestering 1 million tons of CO2 by 2024. They are already well on their way and their latest effort saw over 700,000 mangrove seedlings planted with a survival rate of 80%.
Join Vahid Fotuhi, the founder and CEO of Blue Forest, and Mohammed Mahmoud, Senior Fellow and director of MEI’s Climate and Water Program, for a robust discussion on the future of Blue Forest, mangrove carbon sequestration, and innovative efforts to build climate resilience in the MENA region.
Speakers:
Vahid Fotuhi
Vahid Fotuhi is the Founder and CEO of Blue Forest, a leading UAE project developer focused on mangrove forest restoration. Previously, Vahid was Vice President for Middle East and Africa for SOURCE Global, a solar powered water technology company backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. Vahid’s nature-based infrastructure experience is rooted in his role as Managing Director of Access Power, a developer of clean energy assets. During his six years at Access he originated, developed and helped secure financing for solar and wind power projects in 12 countries, delivering over $600m worth of clean energy projects to millions of people.
Mohammed Mahmoud
Mohammed Mahmoud is the director of the Climate and Water Program and a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. His areas of expertise include climate change adaptation, water policy analysis, and scenario planning. Previously, Mohammed was a senior policy analyst with the Central Arizona Water Conservation District, where he provided research, modeling, and analysis on inter-state Colorado River Basin programs and binational water issues between the United States and Mexico. In addition, he is a faculty associate with Arizona State University.
Photo by Eric Lafforgue / Art in All of Us via Getty Images