# Dubai's man-made islands anger environmentalists



## BigDreamer (Jun 27, 2005)

Source: Reuters
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By Andrew Hammond 

DUBAI, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Billion-dollar islands being built off the coast of Dubai offer wealthy tourists a chance to leave the world behind, but environmentalists say the Gulf's delicate marine ecosystem is paying the price for this perfect escape.

Government-owned developer Nakheel is building three islands in the shape of palm trees -- one surrounded by more islands spelling out an Arabic poem -- and a fourth group of 300 private islands shaped like a map of the world.

"The perfect place to leave the world behind" touts Nakheel's Web site, which features pictures of the verdant isles and their white beaches, being built at a cost of $20 billion.

The luxury resorts and homes on the islands have already attracted celebrities like English footballer David Beckham, who bought a villa in advance. The map of the world development offers a golf island and an African safari island.

Dubai, one of seven semi-autonomous states of the United Arab Emirates, is the leading commercial centre in the Gulf region and has ambitious plans to boost its thriving tourism industry to prepare for when its low oil reserves run out.

But environmentalists say the futuristic island developments have taken a heavy toll on the present ecosystem.

The only known coral reef off the shores of Dubai was destroyed during the dredging work, turtle nesting sites have been destroyed, natural currents rerouted and silt has muddied what were crystal-clear waters, they say.

"It has been detrimental for the natural environment of the Dubai coast, especially at the place and location of the first Palm island," said Frederic Launay, director of the World Wildlife Fund's office in the United Arab Emirates.

"That is a little bit of a shame because there were very good habitats there. There were possibilities of recovery and protection, and there were possibilities of using that natural asset to make something," he told Reuters.

"This opportunity has been lost and now we are only talking about remediation and mitigation." 

COAXING CORAL BACK

Dubai, once a tiny trading post in the Gulf, wants to attract foreign cash and investment into an economy that is weaning itself off rapidly-dwindling crude oil reserves.

The city of modern skyscrapers, which has no historical, natural or religious sites of note, wants to make sure its 1.4 million residents and 5 million plus tourists get everything they want -- and this has made it an architect's playground.

For now, record high oil prices are stoking a construction boom in the city, an oasis of park-lined highways in the blistering heat and suffocating humidity of the desert.

Nakheel disputes environmentalists' claims that building the islands has damaged the ecosystem, saying that most of the coral was already dead.

The property developer, which is in partnership with the Trump Organization to build a $400 million luxury hotel on the man-made Palm Jumeirah island, says it will use revolutionary techniques to stimulate coral growth by placing electrically charged meshes underwater.

"I don't see any problem with this technology. We still have to wait and see when we start really doing it at a much, much larger scale, when I say a larger scale I mean a mega scale," said Imad Haffar, Nakheel's head of research and development.

The remains of two fighter planes, jumbo jets and seven barges have been dropped onto the sea floor in a bid to attract marine life and create an underwater theme park for divers.

Nakheel says the silt and sand will eventually settle down.

Launay said the coral recovery effort was a good thing.

"But that's not what nature conservation and preservation, and respect of the environment, is all about," he added, saying the UAE authorities failed to study Nakheel's plans beforehand.


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## dubaiflo (Jan 3, 2005)

nothing new there.
still, wait and see.


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## DUBAI (Aug 24, 2004)

enviromentalists are so corrupt, ive just stopped beliveing them.


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## malec (Apr 17, 2005)

dubaiflo said:


> nothing new there.
> still, wait and see.


Exactly. We can't be sure until this thing's complete and various tests are taken


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## Essa (Sep 11, 2005)

lets say fvck you to the environmentalists.


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## Jechtman (Aug 17, 2005)

Agrees with ESSA


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## Dubai_Boy (May 21, 2003)

They dont dare strike at arab land 

seriously though , guys i`m afraid were so involved in these fantastic projects and just maybe were over looking the affects :!!


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## Dubai_Boy (May 21, 2003)

and do you know what gets on my fu$$$$n nurves , did you guys know that all the "OLD" oil tankers are only used in the "persian" gulf and dump all sorts of shit into the sea !!! now why dont they protest againts that , maybe its becasue those vessils originate from their countries !! two faced people. These tankers arent even allowed into singapore let alone europe and america

yep . dump all the shit in the ME , its not like those backward people will ever care or tell the difference


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## Dubai-Lover (Jul 4, 2004)

world famous architects, consultants and engineers work on these projects and i'm sure they took their time to develop this project

there will be effects, but i don't see it being as bad as certain other people



you're right dubai boy, oil tankers might have a bigger effect than the palms

i read somewhere or saw it on tv how ballast tanks of ships bring different species of plants and fish into the gulf when these are being emptied


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## Alle (Sep 23, 2005)

Im engaged for the envionment to. But as these new islands take some space, they also create a lot of more shoreline, which is maybe the most important part of the ocean for the life there. As fish grow up there etc.

These islands are not that huge. There are WAY bigger environmental problems. Like farming in huge areas without consideration to environment.


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## Jechtman (Aug 17, 2005)

Looks like they found nothing to complain about, so they said oh lets start whinning about the islands.
I know this kind of people.


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## vc15nets (Aug 16, 2005)

I care a lot for the environment but I dont think there is a lot of marine life in the Persian Gulf. If this was happening in the Red Sea then it could apply but I'm not so sure about the Persian Gulf. 

Besides, they are are going to restore (if not increase) the marine life and corals.

They should look at the Amazon Rain Forest and oil pumping in Alaska and the list goes on and on........


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## Dubai-Lover (Jul 4, 2004)

yes
there are really bad things going on elsewhere
where the islands are built there is no marine life, only far out and on the other side of the arabian peninsula in fujairah and oman

and don't forget that the islands attract a hell lot of marine life, maybe much more as they expected, remember those sharks and stingrays,...

with the huge coral reefs being created it will attract even more species


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## malec (Apr 17, 2005)

^^ I thought there was marine life where palm jebel ali is. Anyway, bringing in new species isn't always a good thing but we'll have to wait and see


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## fahed (Nov 10, 2004)

@The Environmentalists

SUCK IT U MORONS !!

1. there are other more devistating problems to write about 
2. 2 late Shaaaa~hahaha!


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## BigDreamer (Jun 27, 2005)

Dubai-Lover said:


> yes
> there are really bad things going on elsewhere
> where the islands are built there is no marine life, only far out and on the other side of the arabian peninsula in fujairah and oman
> 
> ...



yeah i agree with you that worse things that are going on else where, but thats not really a justification for doing further damage to the environment.

the thing is, you cannot build a new echosystem in few years, they take decades or even centeries to cultivate. nakheel claim they can do so, but most would agree thats not totaly true, they would need human intervention to upkeep the echosystem and prevent it from collapsing for a long while, and even then, there is no proof that it wouldnt jst disapear after they stop their work. thats a global problem faced in almost every country, yet these so called environmentalists seem to be only care about dubai !!


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## Alle (Sep 23, 2005)

Agree with big dreamer. A balanced ecosystem takes a lot of time to be developed. This is drastical changes. But at the same time it's not half as bad as when building new settlements/cities in other places etc. Of course its not a justification. But it's not that big, and, it creates more shoreline, which will stimulate alga to grow, which in turn makes more space where fish can grow up, molluscs can live and so on.

There is no doubt the ecosystem will undertgo changes in the specific area. But i don't believe it will be neccesarily damaged, only changed, there will be negative sides but also new oppurtunities for many species. 

Anyhow, i believe, becouse of the magnitude of the projects, they should be able to take there time to hire marinebiologists etc to analyse the consequences and be prepared for them. Aswell as giving availability for life to take advantage of the new shoreline etc. 

As they will encourage eco-developement i think they've given it a thought, but have they enough? Are they now aware about how the envronment will change and know how to handle it the best way? I really hope so.

I would also prefer if they prohibited boats in certain areas where new nature is developing. At least until the process come quite long. Like for 10 years at least. Or maybe forever in some areas, which would help marinelife to develope alongside some shorelines.


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## malec (Apr 17, 2005)

More shit relating to this:



gulfnews said:


> Palm development caused fish deaths, say officials
> 
> By Bassma Al Jandaly, Staff Reporter
> Dubai: Ongoing construction work on The Palm, Deira, is threatening an environmental disaster, top Sharjah officials told Gulf News yesterday.
> ...


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## Dubai-Lover (Jul 4, 2004)

well, when i see all that rubbish there i'm not surprised
i wonder where this is coming from
why not first make a research and then blame nakheel?

it doesn't make sense this way


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## dubaiflo (Jan 3, 2005)

don't get your point D-L?


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## PakistaniSoul (Jun 28, 2005)

who cares about them ..they just braggin Like always .. Every Biologist on earth knows islands attract more marrine life and Plus i am sure the way there making is very careful not just dumping sand into Sea.. This Article obviously aint makin scence with there nonscence trash..Just dont mind it theres plenty of these hungry people


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