"Dubais artificial islands have high environmental cost" - Blog post on Mongabay[click to view], 7. This was seen as especially important to the UAE to be able tohedge against the predicted long-term decline in project oil revenues as reservoirs ran out. A Was environmental justice served? The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum. Then Nakheel, a local real estate conglomerate, dredged 3 billion cubic feet of sand from the seafloor and used GPS precision to shape it a 17-fronded palm tree. Stay up to date: Aviation, Travel and Tourism . The Palm Islands are an engineering project of staggering proportion. recent blow has thrown the future of Dubai into uncertainty, and it is Land reclamation is big business and today, numerous countries are taking back land from the sea to expand their coastlines and territory. It is important to keep this constantly in our minds, so that we can move forward actively resisting neocolonialism in all of its forms and manifestations. Palm oil needs to be produced more sustainably. The. All rights reserved. IUCN Oil Palm Task Force iucn-optf.org/about, As UNCCD Parties continue to set and achieve their Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) targets,, The report provides an update on the status of the Yellow Sea ecosystem since the first publication, Forest and farm producer organizations (FFPOs) from Africa, Asia and the Americas met with, Headquarters Most (85%) of global palm oil supply comes from Indonesia and Malaysia, followed by Thailand, Colombia and Nigeria. It also reduces the diversity and abundance of most native species. . [click to view], 5. Reclaimed land is also a risk in earthquake-prone areas. This made Sheik Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoums vision a reality, and was supported by government-owned-company Nakheel in Dubai. What was the purpose of the Palm Islands? Image:REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah. peninsula, and bordered by Oman, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf of Oman, and Climate change Deforestation and forest degradation account for up to 20 per cent of global man-made CO2 emissions. University of WisconsinMadison, US, The Environment & Society Portal is a project of the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, a joint initiative of LMU Munich and the Deutsches Museum. A 100m-wide opening was added on each side of the crescent to allow water to circulate and prevent it [from] becoming stagnant. Some communities suffer economically from oil palm development because their loss of access to forests is not sufficiently compensated by economic gains from oil palm cultivation. Until this question is properly addressed, the city is unlikely to change its course of action. emirates" (Abu Zaby/Abu Dhabi, 'Ajman, WHY DONT WE BUILD FLOATING STRUCTURES ON THE SURFACE INSTEAD? citizens of the UAE. of the country, Dubai is also the center of business and commerce in The high concentration of particles can suffocate most of the local species and prevent sunlight needed by vegetation from reaching the sea floor [1] [4] [8]. For instance, in 2021, Dubai merged its economy and tourism departments into one to enhance the citys competitiveness and expand foreign trade. Palm Deira, was supposed to be around 8 times bigger than Palm Jumeirah, but plans for it have since been significantly scaled back. IN WHAT WAYS ARE WE BUILDING INTO THE SEA? But it is Dubai that is home to perhaps the most famous of reclaimed areas. Palm Jumeirah can even be seen from space. - Travel Zoo. announced that it was in a debt-crisis and asked creditors to hold Created in 2019, Catalyst operates under the portfolio of the VP Publications of the, Western Media Reporting on Russia in the Russia-Ukraine War, The Threat Against Civil Society In Nicaragua, Diors Mumbai Runway Show: Soft Power and Cultural Outreach, Slavery by Another Name: The Kafala System and the Exploitation of Immigrant Workers, The Fine Line Between Global Urbanism and Utilizing Migrant Workers. It is therefore important to shed light on what is perpetually hidden in this playground of the rich and bring a realistic point of view to the ecological destruction caused. These include Palm Jumeirah, Palm Jebel Ali, Deira Islands, and The World islands. Survey of travellers finds 76% want more sustainable options, Europes Newest Train Routes: A Greener Alternative to Air Travel, 5 ways the world can reduce emissions from global transport systems, Charted: How international travel bounced back strongly in 2022, How 'dark tourism' can pass on the lessons of past tragedies, Worlds Largest Hydrogen Electric Airplane From ZeroAvia Has Taken Flight, is affecting economies, industries and global issues, with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale. Around the same time, Nasa and the US Navy also set up their own underwater laboratories Tektite I and II, and Sealab. the Persian Gulf. According to www.palmjebelali.edu "Marine life in and, around Palm Jebel Ali is flourishing. But a major setback is preventing visitors from exploring these man-made islands. However, what incentives are there for Dubai to ever prioritize ecological matters over its thriving tourism industry? Conshelf I sat 10 metres below the surface of the Marseilles coast, and for one week, it was home to two oceanauts who enjoyed all the mod-cons including television and a library. xclusive residential beachside villas and apartments, marinas, water theme parks, restaurants, shopping malls, sports facilities, and health spas were also planned for the islands. In Cambodia, residents of the Tonle Sap freshwater lake live in floating houses. Despite the UAEs abundant sand reserves, the artificial island projects have chosen marine sand instead, as a way to have a more solid base. As the global population grows, palm oils role in meeting global food demand will increase. It is now planned to convert this project into a less ambitious four-island site. They followed it up with a small village on the floor of the Red Sea that was occupied for a month, and eventually Conshelf III, built one hundred metres below the surface near Nice in France in 1965, home to six oceanauts for three weeks at a time. This was seen as especially important to the. Until 1998, when world prices for tropical timber fell steeply, timber was Solomon Islands main export product. The crescent is 650 feet (200 metres) wide and about 10.5 miles (17 km) long altogether. Located along the central coast Shes a citizen of the world; as she has French nationality, is of Italian descent, was born in Sweden, lived in the USA and is now living in Canada! 7. vision a reality, and was supported by government-owned-company Nakheel in Dubai. Then Nakheel, a local real estate. International Development News, Features, and Opinions. involved! Aside from obvious environmental degradation, there is hope in this situation as possible solutions exist such as shifting investments from harmful projects to sustainable ecological ventures, using oyster shells to rebuild Dubais coastline, and ultimately limiting ocean exploitation. Palm Jumeirah also has an artificial reef that was partially created by sinking two, 4. (1998) A new reef marine reserve in the southern Arabian Gulf: Jebel Ali, Dubai (UAE). The artificial archipelago is roughly 5-by-5 kilometers in dimension and has an area of roughly 800 football fields. The Asian Development Bank estimates that the crash of the market for tropical timber . . Purkis SJ, Riegl B (2005) Spatial and temporal dynamics of Arabian Gulf coral assemblages quantified from remote-sensing and in situ monitoring data (Jebel Ali, Dubai, U.A.E.). Even the smallest island took a decade to complete. Dubais Artificial Islands : Cutting Edge Innovation or Ecological Disaster? "THE EFFECTS OF CUSTOM BUILD PARADISE Artificial Islands" - Blog post on That's Life Science[click to view], 6. Seven million tons of mountain rock was piled around the island to form a crescent-shaped breakwater seven miles long, designed to protect the newborn island from waves and storms. Palm Jumeirah was intended to be the first of three similarly shaped offshore developments in Dubai. . - Travel Zoo. Economic impacts on land value . . . Gulfs also makes it an important point of transit in the shipping of Web. It is 7.5 times larger in area than Palm Jumeirah and 5. For ocean ecosystems, certainly. Evaluating Dubai's island-reclamation project" - Post from The Economist[click to view], 8. Related World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial . Switzerland, IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, Biodiversity Assessment and Knowledge Team, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, IUCN Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas, The 2023 IUCN Situation analysis on ecosystems of the Yellow Sea with, Lessons and recommendations for setting up community-based financing mechanisms, Commission on Education and Communication (CEC), Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP), World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL), World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA). Another reason for the islands' construction was to provide prime real estate for private individuals. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Oak View Group paid for a study that predicts an initial $200 million economic impact, hundreds of new jobs and a $32 million annual economic impact. Unknown. The Palm Islands on the coastline of Dubai City are part of a major vision being realized by Nakheel, a large development company owned by the UAE Government. 1.02 billion cubic meters of sand will be used in the construction. Contributed by Amelia Puhr Course: Modern Global Environmental History This rock was sourced from the nearby, So much rock and sand was used in the islands' construction that it has been estimated that it could be used tobuild a, , a two-tower resort connected by a 155m-long 'sky pool'." However, there is little evidence that these approaches are effective at reducing impacts on biodiversity. Their intention is not only to create new sustainable communities, but also to provide a hot-house environment for start-up cities, that bring a start-up mentality to urban development. The environmental consequences of the artificial islands, along with rising sea-levels, non-renewable petroleum resources, premature erosion of construction materials, , and the global effects of climate change accentuate Dubais ecological problems and further impact future sustenance. Inspired by the three artificial palm tree-themed islands projects that are nearing completion, The World is a heady $14 billion endeavor, consisting of 300 individual islands arranged to mimic the shape of the globe's landmasses. The new terminal will open in 2026 . However, Dubais relationship to the environment is problematic as its avant-guardist ambitions clash with the persistence of a sustainable environment and, therefore, a sustainable future. As the food . Palm Jumeirah island is protected from the ravages of the sea by an 11-km manmade breakwater that surrounds the island in a crescent-shape. Market Cycle - Last In Last Out (relative to UK and US markets). These consequences are hidden by extensive propagandizing of the innovative accomplishment, and by the lavish lifestyle of the City of Gold shown all over social media: luxury, haute couture fashion, an important technology and business hub, influencers, western businesspeople, and the home of the rich and famous. The broad trunk, connected to the mainland by a bridge, serves as the entrance to the development. . colony, the UAE is located on the southeast coast of the Arabian Another bridge connects the trunk to the spine, a narrow central axis from which 17 fronds protrude. 5 Dec. 2009. Web. Updates? Each islandwas planned to have residential, leisure and entertainment centers erected on them and they will add over 500 km of non-public beaches to the city of Dubai once finished. This large scale process of dredging introduced many challenges and impacts on the ecosystem of the coastline. Improvements in the new master plan include increased land area and real estate value, reduced sand volume and rock revetment, reduced construction time, increased beachfront, and improved hydraulic performance. With over 50 four and five star hotels in the city, tourism revenue overtook oil revenue as a part of Dubai's gross domestic product (GDP) for the first time in 2003 was 18% of GDP against 17% GDP for oil. It also contributes to the development of remote areas via provision of infrastructure including roads, hospitals and schools. If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter, called If You Only Read 6 Things This Week. and its standard of living has increased rapidly, making it one of the Its oil wealth has made its rich inhabitants dreams come true. . Rue Mauverney 28 Oil palm produces up to nine times more oil per unit area than other major oil crops, and can help meet global demand for vegetable oils that is estimated to grow from an annual 165 million tonnes now to 310 million tonnes in 2050. The company was part of the government-linked Dubai World group, which shook global markets in 2009 when it signalled it was facing difficulties paying off debts totalling about $24.9 billion. Ninety four million cubic meters of sand and seven million tonnes of rock were used in the construction. Bond villain and megalomaniac (arent they all?) Dubai must find a new source of income. It is the biggest man made island in the world. Environmental Impacts - The Impact of the Palm Islands, United Arab Emirates Environmental Impacts The construction of the Palm Islands and The World, for all Nakheel's attempts to do. In fact, with the introduction of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) in 2004, Dubai developed as a global hub for service industries such as IT and finance., This boom has brought Dubais most prevalent businesspeople and policy-makers to focus most on the citys accumulated wealth by diversifying its economy in tourism and real estate two of the most crucial pillars of Dubais fortune today. Banning palm oil could result in diminished efforts to produce palm oil sustainably, and an increase in land used for producing other oils (mostly soy, sunflower and rapeseed) which is likely to shift biodiversity impacts to regions where those oils are produced. The main reason for the construction of the Palm Islands was to increase Dubai's tourism market by providing a one-of-a-kind tourist destination. This is one of the questions that will be discussed at the BBC Futures World-Changing Ideas Summit in Sydney in November. These three archipelagos, along with other projects along that coastline (such as The World), are artificial reclaimed islands made from displaced sand and stone. Given that land reclamation tiptoes the line between earth and sea, disputes over sovereignty keep lawyers of both very busy indeed. Donate to theMontreal Native Womens Shelter. Kalangala district is known for its unique Pitadeniastrum-Uapaca forests . 2 Around the world, architects are building more modern floating homes, especially in countries such as the Netherlands which is vulnerable to flooding. Helman Hurley Charvat Peacock/Architects, Inc. Palm Islands (Palm Jumeira), United Arab Emirates, Tourism facilities (ski resorts, hotels, marinas), Level of Investment for the conflictive project, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum - (Former President). All this considered, there are very few Environmental laws and movements in the UAE [1]. A vehicular tunnel connects the spine to the crescent, and a transit monorail runs about 3 miles (4.8 km) from the mainland to the crescent through the spine and trunk. References to published books, academic articles, movies or published documentaries, Related media links to videos, campaigns, social network, We use cookies for statistical purposes and to improve our services. Vibro-compaction technology was also used to prepare the reclaimed land once the island shapes had been completed. And Florida International University still operates a lab called Aquarius, nine kilometres off Key Largo, with space for six researchers, a kitchen and a laboratory space. It is locally used as cooking oil, exported for use in much commercial food and personal care products and is converted into biofuel. Palm Jumeirah, artificial offshore islands in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the site of private residences and hotels. .chakra .wef-facbof{display:inline;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-facbof{display:block;}}You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. Land reclamation in the emirate of Dubai has made it one of the most recognizable areas in the world. Contributed by Amelia Puhr The master plan was drawn up by Helman Hurley Charvat Peacock, an American architectural firm. payments for six months, shocking investors worldwide ("Dubai's Debt Crisis"). On the coast of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, some of the world's largest artificial islands are under construction. 5 Dec. 2009. Catalyst is an undergraduate student-run online platform that publishes written and creative work relating to the field of International Development Studies. UAE federal government and other powers reserved to the member practices Islam, and the official language remains Arabic ("Middle East"). This rock was sourced from the nearby Hajar Mountains. By subscribing to our newsletter(s) you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. "The World" was just one of several multi-billion-dollar island projects that were designed in the form of palm trees and world continents. This is detrimental to marine life, as oyster beds and coral reefs have been completely buried in the thick sediment. McGill University, and the International Development Studies Students Association (IDSSA), is founded upon the unceded traditional territories of Indigenous peoples, namely the Haudenosaunee Confederacy who are also known as the Guardians of the Eastern Door, and Anishinabeg Nations. Photo credits: The Palm Islands, Dubai by Michael LLoyd, published on March 9th 2010, licensed under flickr.com. Globally palm oil production is affecting at least 193 threatened species, according to The IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM. Coral Reefs 17(4): 398. In existing oil palm plantations, producers should also manage their land more responsibly to reduce impacts on biodiversity. Dubai's Road Transport Authority (RTA) will help to ensure smooth flow of traffic to and from the development through constructions of roads, metro and marine transportation and RTA's roads network. Hundreds of millions of cubic tonnes of sand were also dredged from the seafloor and used to form the upper parts of the new manmade archipelagoes.