All things Crowd Management at COP28UAE 2023 Expo City Dubai by Steve Laws
COP28 was a milestone moment for global climate action which took place at Expo City Dubai, from 30th November to 12th December 2023, a truly spectacular venue.
COP28 refers to the Conference of Parties, staged as a United Nations Climate Change Conference.
The COP28 President, Dr Sultan al-Jaber’s two-week thematic program was focused towards responding to the Global Climate action stocktake and closing the gaps to the 2030 net zero carbon targets.
THEMATIC PROGRAM
There was a vibrant thematic programme that highlighted the most pressing action areas for COP28 to progress and the importance of their interconnectedness.
The program reflected the sectors and topics raised by stakeholders during consultations, including new action areas like youth, health, trade, relief, recovery, and peace. The thematic day programming also incorporated four underpinning actionable themes: Technology & Innovation, Inclusion, Frontline Communities and Finance.
The negotiations on the 'enhanced transparency framework' at COP28 laid the ground for a new era of implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement to hold global temperature increases to under 2 degrees, bench marking a 1.5 degrees target above preindustrial levels. UN Climate Change continues to develop the transparency reporting and review tools for use by Parties, which were showcased and tested at COP28.
A significant element was signalling the ‘beginning of the end’ for fossil fuel era. As a side note do you know how many years are left before oil production in the UAE oil fields runs out?
THE EVENT
COP28 was divided into two zones.
The Blue Zone was the UNFCCC managed site, open to accredited parties and observer delegates. A walled and secure area, it hosted the formal negotiations across the two weeks of the conference, as well as the World Climate Action Summit, the country pavilions, presidency events and hundreds of side events including panel discussions. Under the UN Security Services protective envelop.
The Green Zone was open to the public, where visitors explored breakthrough climate innovations, cutting-edge tech, interactive exhibits, inspiring art installations, film screenings and public evening entertainment in the Al Wasl Plaza, the iconic centre piece of Expo City.
MY ROLE
I arrived overnight on September 17th 2023 and hit the ground running with a safety workshop on the morning of 18th, my first day! Good to meet the teams.
My role was that of Event Crowd Management planner and event practitioner working closely with the UAE authorities and UN Security Services. I had responsibility for all crowd movement analysis and risk analysis for the Blue Zone.
James Mildenhall who runs Crowded Events in Dubai was my sponsor and employer. Working alongside the fabulous Green Zone team led by James wereEmily Howie and Matthew Tobias. Two amazing crowd practitioners. It was crucially important to ensure all our planning was aligned between the two zones. It is fair to say it was an immense task. May I humbly say we smashed it!
My scope of work had monthly milestones leading up to event start. I was seconded to the Event Production Team at Identity Global who had management and delivery responsibility for the UNFCCC event zone.
First task was an arrivals, departures and queuing analysis for the Blue Zone main pedestrian entrance which included the security screening and accreditation areas. This was a ‘critical eye’ over the queuing areas, arrival profiles from transport hubs and flow rate analysis through the security and accreditations platforms. I revisited this work several times in the planning stages leading up to event live.
Further workstreams included a site wide emergency evacuation study and crowd management planning. I quickly formed an open and adaptive approach to extra workstreams that emerged for specific thematic areas.
I had so many vibrant experiences that will live long in my memories. Long to stay in my memory will be a briefing given to the Dubai Police Commander during a workshop to examine the Blue Zone Emergency response and evacuation planning. A concern had been raised about the emergency evacuation planning and capacities. Were there enough exits? Could we evacuate everyone safely? A critical test of my work it seemed! When I explained that my site recce, examination of the emergency exit widths and zone evacuation routes, established that the Blue Zone could accommodate the safe egress of twice the expected 30,000 visitors per day, the relief on his face was amazing to see! We also established our preferred 'red routes' for all emergency vehicle access. All detailed in the Blue Zone Emergency Evacuation Plan.
So! Almost as soon as I arrived it was time to go (or so it seemed!) Three months seemed to fly by and I returned to UK after the event closure, just in time for Christmas.
I reflect now on the journey which started with an answer to a Crowded Events advert and introduction toJames Mildenhall, MSc, NEBOSH, FIIRSM, CMgr FCMIwho reached out to me early 2023 with the offer to support the crowd management planning. Thank you James, for giving me the opportunity to demonstrate my skills and competencies and for sponsoring my Dubai residency and UAE ID.
I met so many fantastic, talented and skilled people! Working alongside colleagues old and new. The scale and complexity of the event was like a huge jigsaw! Each piece contributing to making the picture whole! From production, staging, managing, testing, televising and video production, media, security, policing, civil defence, command and control, catering, construction, transport, traffic management, parking, people services, accreditation, customer services and accommodation. Making it work was led by the COP28 UAE team representing the Office of the Special Envoy for Climate Change OSECC, working alongside Identity Global for the Blue Zone and Expo City Dubai for the Green Zone.
This was my first visit to the UAE and I was fascinated how Dubai weaves culture, history and cutting-edge modernity together. Expensive? Yes! Can you live here on a reasonable budget? Yes again! I found a great serviced apartment where I was royally looked after. I chose not to have a car and used the very reliable if sometimes a little overcrowded metro system to travel each day.
My journey into work every morning!
COP28UAE was a momentous experience, one I wouldn’t hesitate to do again!
