The Duke of Cambridge has taken part in the Queen’s Commonwealth Games baton relay, plant mangrove saplings and celebrate the UK during a day of events in Dubai.
William arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday ahead of a busy schedule of engagements centred around the Dubai Expo 2020.
Soon after his commercial flight landed in Dubai on Wednesday, the duke tweeted under his own name, signing off his social media post with his initial W, and posted an image of the Dubai skyline taken from a plane.
William said he was “excited” to be in Dubai to celebrate the UK and discuss ways of achieving “a more sustainable world” with his environmental projects the Earthshot Prize and United for Wildlife (UFW).
Excited to be arriving in Dubai to celebrate the UK at @DubaiExpo and discuss the vital issue of working together with the UAE and international partners to achieve a more sustainable world with @EarthshotPrize and United for Wildlife. W pic.twitter.com/MG4lmtEtZy
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) February 9, 2022
He visited Abu Dhabi’s wetlands at the Jubail Mangrove Park - in a project designed to protect regional flora and fauna.
Environmental campaigner William went to the new nature reserve where he was told that mangroves capture four times more carbon than rain forests.
He was joined by school children and planted mangrove saplings as part of the initiative.
William and Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, also planted mangrove saplings.
The two discussed their work on globally impactful sustainability initiatives and were briefed on work to protect the environment and enhance biodiversity.
Later, William was hosting host a “Dragons Den-style” event for entrepreneurs as his £50million prize to beat climate change goes global.
It is his first foreign royal trip since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic two years ago.
UK National Day is taking over the Dubai Expo on Thursday and William will tour the UK Pavilion and take part in a celebration of his homeland, meeting UK sportspeople and joining the Queen’s Baton Relay as it tours Commonwealth pavilions on the Expo site.
The duke will visit Abu Dhabi’s wetlands at Jubail Mangrove Park and join schoolchildren planting saplings to learn more about the UAE’s efforts to protect regional flora and fauna from human and environmental challenges.
William has attempted to tackle the illegal trade in items like ivory and rhino horn through his umbrella body UFW.
For more than five years the organisation’s Transport Taskforce has been working to foster collaborations between the transport sector and law enforcement to prevent wildlife trafficking, and UFW has also been working in the UAE to achieve this aim.
The duke will tour Dubai’s Jebel Ali Port operated by DP World, a UFW taskforce member, and watch a demonstration of cargo being unloaded from container ships by crane, scanned for suspicious items and inspected by customs.
William staged the inaugural awards ceremony for his Earthshot Prize last autumn and five finalists will showcase their innovative and ground-breaking solutions to “repair” the planet at the Expo, watched by the duke.
