UAE Joins Global Polar Research Efforts in the Arctic & Antarctica

The United Arab Emirates has taken a formal step into polar science, allowing Emirati researchers to work more closely with international teams studying the Arctic and Antarctica. Through new legal access and research agreements, the country can now participate in global decision-making on polar research and run its own scientific projects in some of the world’s most sensitive environments.
This follows the UAE’s accession to the Antarctic Treaty System under Federal Decree No. 165 of 2024, which allows participation in consultative meetings and the proposal of national research initiatives. In parallel, the country obtained observer status on the Arctic Council, enabling involvement in dialogue and cooperation on environmental and scientific issues affecting the northern polar region. On the ground, Emirati meteorology and seismology specialists have been working with the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute to install two monitoring stations in Antarctica to collect atmospheric and seismic data. A UAE scientific team also joined Bulgaria’s 34th Antarctic expedition for the second year in a row, operating through UAE laboratories at the Bulgarian base and continuing projects launched under the UAE Polar Programme in 2024.
International cooperation has expanded further through memoranda of understanding signed in 2025 with Argentina and New Zealand, aimed at strengthening Antarctic research, exchanging academic expertise and building national capacity in polar sciences. Individual exploration achievements have accompanied the scientific work. Emirati mountaineer Fatima Abdulrahman Al Awadhi, aged 18, became the youngest Arab woman to summit Mount Vinson, Antarctica’s highest peak. Emirati explorer Ibrahim Sharaf Al Hashemi also completed the first circular flight around Antarctica using two helicopters, covering 19,050 kilometres between December 2024 and January 2025, starting and ending at Union Glacier Camp.