Over the last two decades the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, or the Arab States of the Gulf, have experienced impressive development driven by oil revenues. Rapid economic development has brought widespread prosperity to this region resulting in a frenzied pace of urbanisation, which has transformed the area from a series of small fishing hamlets to a highly urbanized region. According to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), between 2015 and 2030, the current GCC population of 52.6 million (2015) will grow by 12.3 million at an annual growth rate of 5.8 per cent(1). Characteristically in the GCC, urban population is concentrated in a linear development within 100 km of the Persian Gulf Coast. In fact, over the last 20 years, about 40% of the decadal urban growth of 2.1% has happened along the coast, transforming it into a unique landscape of waterfront cities, artificial islands, ports, marinas, canals and lagoons (UNU-INWEH 2011).(2) A cursory glance at the GCC coastline is rewarded with a delirious experience of atrocious offshore developments, which pushes the boundaries of design and technology, each unique and more exotic than its predecessor.
The trend of colonising water is an established developmental model in the GCC with numerous mega projects at various stages of design and execution. Examples like the lagoons and islands of Al-Khiran Pearl City in Kuwait, which adds over 6.4 km2 of land and 200 km of beach front on an environmentally impoverished low lying, hyper-saline salt flats, are common. Bahrain recently increased 11% of its original land area by reclaiming 91 km2 for industrial, recreational and residential purposes (Zainal 2009)(3). The coastline of Qatar doubled from 563 km to 1,239 km (Qatar University GIS department) within a decade (1999–2010) riding on iconic projects like the Pearl Qatar, clearly identifying an ambition to create a new landscape of real estate opportunities albeit at a profound ecological cost.
According to the United Nations University, Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), poorly conceived offshore developments are a persistent threat and in a recent policy report on ‘Managing the growing impacts of development on fragile coastal and marine ecosystems’, it mentions that ‘building ambitious coastal mega projects has become a part of the development strategy for each GCC state that is predominantly geared towards creating investment opportunities, marketing as popular luxury shopping and holiday destinations and maximum economic growth.
This comes at a high environmental cost as these mega projects are adding substantial coastline and beach front property and leading to the degradation and loss of much natural habitat.” (UNU-INWEH 2011).
The unprecedented rate and scale of development poses numerous environmental challenges and may be the greatest threat facing the marine communities of the Gulf States in the coming decades as urban populations along its shores continue to grow.
The urbanising model is showcased best in Dubai, the city of superlatives, which has virtually turned sand (and water) into real estate gold. Built on the model of a post-oil economy, Dubai invested heavily in promoting financial services, aviation and tourism, supported by premium real estate and world-class infrastructure. Today, Dubai is an investment hub for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, a safe haven for capital in an increasingly disturbed geography. As the economy prospered, Dubai sprawled out, building a unique portfolio of projects, colonising land and water. However, behind all the glitz and glamour of Dubai, questions are often raised about the environmental sustainability of its developmental model, especially the offshore development enclaves, which despite standing out with their striking landscape and impressive technical achievements, nevertheless pose serious sustainability challenges.
Dubai is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world with its population increasing at the rate of 10.7% annually and is projected to touch 2.8 million by 2020. The growth story of Dubai’s coastal zones started in the 1970s with the two ports, Port Rashid and Port Jebel Ali, and the construction of relatively modest marinas like Al Mina Al Seyahi, Umm Sequim and the Jumeirah Fishing Harbour.
However, it was only in the late ’90s, when Dubai initiated a series of mega projects in a bid to make a transition to a post-oil economy, that a significant structural transformation altered the coastline of Dubai.
Already short of space on its tiny 72 km coastline, Offshore Development Schemes were proposed to extend the coastline by a remarkable 500+ kms in order to attract and make space for the tourism and financial services industries. In a land poorly endowed with natural features, water became the primary ingredient of an extraordinary destination development exercise exemplified in the unique landscape of the artificial islands of Dubai. The Collective of Palm Jumeirah, Palm Jebel Ali, Palm Deira, The World and Dubai Waterfront defines ‘Brand Dubai’, adds over 32,000 hectares of pristine real estate and in their sheer enormity provokes questions on the sustainability of the urbanisation model.
Palm Jumeirah (20 km2), the world’s largest artificial island, Palm Jebel Ali (42 km2), Palm Deira (80 km2), The World Island (54 km2) and the Dubai Waterfront (130 km2)(4), which spans an area 2.5 times bigger than Washington D.C. (Krane, 2006)(5) collectively extends Dubai 15 kms into the Gulf, roughly as much as it has sprawled on land. This mega structure involved dredging enormous quantities of sand: 94 million m3 for Palm Jumeirah, 135 million m3 for Palm Jebel Ali, and 330 million m3 for The World (Sale et al. 2011)(6). Together, they dwarf the 55 million m3 that was dredged for constructing the Busan Port in South Korea, the 4th largest container terminal in the world. Such an enormous intervention is expected to introduce and exacerbate environmental risks especially in a virtually enclosed body of water like the Persian Gulf.
Multiple environmental agencies like Mongabay have reported, “Significant changes in the maritime environment (of Dubai) are leaving a visual scar... As a result of the dredging and redepositing of sand for the construction of the islands, the typically crystalline waters of the Gulf of Dubai have become severely clouded with silt. Construction activity is damaging the marine habitat, burying coral reefs, oyster beds and subterranean fields of sea grass, threatening local marine species as well as other species dependent on them for food. Oyster beds have been covered in as much as two inches of sediment while, above the water, beaches are eroding with the disruption of natural currents.” (Butler, 2005).(7)
The Palm Jumeira project, the first and presumably the most successful of this offshore development typology is a case worth exploring. Considered a technological marvel, the project was conceived by the state run developer Nakheel in the late ’90s. Completed in 2007, the Palm is now home to 10,500 residents (2016).
Morphologically, the island has a date palm tree form which maximises beachfront fronds, a 1.5 km long trunk boulevard, a crescent-shaped breakwater and is connected to the mainland via a monorail, a vehicular tunnel, two horizontal directional drilling (HDD) crossings and navigable piers on each side of the crescent. The 78 km long fronds are designed as a private zone for premium beachfront villas, while the trunk and the breakwater contain a mix of super luxury hotels, resorts, condos and shopping malls. Two 100 m breaks in the crescent allow tidal water to flush the Palm preventing eutrophication and act as tie-in points for infrastructure services to the breakwater. The 11 km breakwater forms a circular arc sea-barrier that protects the inner palm from potentially harmful wave action. At 5.2 metres above MSL, the breakwater extends 1.7 metres above the highest waves ever recorded (Salahuddin, 2006).(8) The Palm Jumeirah, designed for a one-metre rise in sea level due to global climate change, can withstand earthquakes up to Richter’s 6 and can accommodate a settlement of 25 mm over the course of 100 years (Salahuddin, 2006 and Gibling, 2013).(9)
The Palm Jumeirah is quite possibly the world’s most extraordinary feat of engineering, architecture and construction. While the project is a resounding commercial success, environmentalists have alleged the Palm has caused a serious environmental impact.
The massive dredging operations caused extensive siltation in an area extending much beyond it leading to irrevocable changes to marine ecology, extinction of native benthic communities, low-relief oyster, sea grass beds and coral reef. Permanently modified wave patterns are eroding the local beaches, increasing potential risk for eutrophication, anoxia or algal blooms. An increase in salinity and temperature (0.2°C/decade over the global average) has been reported to add to the severity of anthropogenic stresses on the Gulf (UNU-INWEH 2011).
Nakheel has initiated several remedial measures to mitigate the environmental impact like close coastal monitoring, regular maintenance of the beaches and re-engineered artificial reefs supporting diverse benthic communities with demography and growth rates comparable to natural reefs.
However, environmental agencies argue that the local remedial measures cannot justify the rampant loss of global marine ecosystems. Scientists estimate that close to 70% of native reef cover in the Gulf is permanently lost and a further 27% is severely endangered due to anthropometric stresses (UNU-INWEH 2011).
Considering the colossal scale of the coastal developments along the Gulf, such projects can have severe cumulative and long-term consequences without holistic planning and sensitivity towards existing coastal hydrodynamics, offshore bathymetric conditions and marine ecosystems at a pan Gulf level. The UNU-INWEH reflected that the environmental studies associated with the Palm project show that governmental executive agencies have not observed international and regional environmental standards. The process of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was allegedly inadequate, suffered from limited coverage based on weak data, violated national/international regulations and overlooked multiple evaluation criteria. The UNU-INWEH further observes that the regulatory framework, institutional capacity, technical and monitoring mechanisms in the GCC barely manage to address the frenzied pace of development and there are no indications that appropriately sophisticated policies and mechanisms for mitigating environmental impacts will be immediately available.
The GCC, and Dubai in particular, needs to strengthen the regulatory and enforcement environment, build scientific capacity and make environmental data accessible. Without a scientifically rigorous process, transparency, public scrutiny, strict compliance and long term monitoring procedures, most EIAs are ineffective. Since the projects are large, complex and their impact often stretches beyond territorial waters, an integrated environmental framework involving neighbouring countries is desirable. Without a holistic and long-term management approach, ecological sustainability is unlikely to be achieved and the very projects that put Dubai on the world map can potentially erase it.
Arunava Sarkar is an Architect-Urban Designer with 13+ years of experience in India, EU and the GCC. He is currently based out of Dubai and is involved with various Greenfield townships, urban regeneration projects, TOD hubs and retail destinations in the region.
REFERENCES:
1. http://www.emiratesnews247.com/gcc-population-to-rise-by-12m-in-2030/ accessed 14/2/2019
2. Van Lavieren, H., J. Burt, D.A. Feary, G. Cavalcante, E. Marquis, L. Benedetti, C. Trick, B. Kjerfve, and P.F. Sale. 2011. Managing the growing impacts of development on fragile coastal and marine ecosystems: Lessons from the Gulf. A policy report, UNU-INWEH, Hamilton, ON, Canada. United Nations University.
3. Zainal, K., (ed), 2009. The cumulative impacts of reclamation and dredging activities. Report for ROPME, Kuwait. <www.upc.gov.ae/ template/upc/pdf/COASTALGUIDELINESEn.pdf>
4. https://sites.google.com/site/palmislandsimpact/general-information/construction-of-the-islands accessed 14/2/2019
5. Krane, Jim. “Arab Island Resorts Are Reshaping Geography.” 8 Mar. 2005. MSNBC. <http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7051051/> (16 Feb. 2006)
6. Burt, J., A. Bartholomew, and P.F. Sale, 2011a. Benthic development on large-scale engineered reefs: a comparison of communities among breakwaters of different age and natural reefs. Ecological Engineering 37: 191-198.
7. Butler Tina, 2005, Dubai’s artificial islands have high environmental cost, www. mongabay.com, Accessed 14/2//2019
8. Bayyinah Salahuddin , The Marine Environmental Impacts of Artificial Island Construction , Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences of Duke University 2006
9. Construction Process and Post-Construction Impacts of the Palm Jumeirah in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Colin Gibling Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University, St. John’s, NL, Canada March, 2013 Memorial University, St. John’s, NL
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