Palm Island
THE DUBAI PALMS: CONSTRUCTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES ETHAN POLIE
In the late twentieth century, the Middle Eastern nation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) began to make plans to distance itself from the petroleum industry that dominates most of the Persia. Driven by the fact that internal experts believe the country’s oil reserves will be depleted by the year 2012, the UAE is attempting to transition to a service industry, with a major focus on tourism, retail, and entertainment. In order to transform its economy, the UAE is first focusing of the already advanced city of Dubai, which is the first tax free, centrally-planned, freemarket capitalist society in the Middle East (1). With an economy valued at over forty six billion dollars, the city of Dubai is, by far, the most economically powerful city in that part of the world. Yet it has virtually no ties to the commanding petroleum industry (2). The UAE is in the process of spending trillions of dollars transforming Dubai into an engineering marvel. Of all of the structures that the emirate has recently created, including the tallest structure in the world and a revolving skyscraper, this report will focus on the largest land reclamation project to date, the manmade island formed in the shape of a date palm. The island, which Dubai has already termed “the eighth wonder of the world,” adds almost 1,600 km (1,000 mi) of additional coastline to Dubai, and is formally called the Palm Jumeirah (3). While it is an engineering marvel, without extensive research and planning, the creation of such an island chain could have severely affected the local environment and coastal eco-system. Unfortunately, the UAE did not have time or patience for such research and planning, and therefore, the repercussions of such a large scale project have been devastating. This report will first give the reader some background on the Palm Jumeirah project and will then discuss some of the environmental repercussions of this large
In the late twentieth century, the Middle Eastern nation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) began to make plans to distance itself from the petroleum industry that dominates most of the Persia. Driven by the fact that internal experts believe the country’s oil reserves will be depleted by the year 2012, the UAE is attempting to transition to a service industry, with a major focus on tourism, retail, and entertainment. In order to transform its economy, the UAE is first focusing of the already advanced city of Dubai, which is the first tax free, centrally-planned, freemarket capitalist society in the Middle East (1). With an economy valued at over forty six billion dollars, the city of Dubai is, by far, the most economically powerful city in that part of the world. Yet it has virtually no ties to the commanding petroleum industry (2). The UAE is in the process of spending trillions of dollars transforming Dubai into an engineering marvel. Of all of the structures that the emirate has recently created, including the tallest structure in the world and a revolving skyscraper, this report will focus on the largest land reclamation project to date, the manmade island formed in the shape of a date palm. The island, which Dubai has already termed “the eighth wonder of the world,” adds almost 1,600 km (1,000 mi) of additional coastline to Dubai, and is formally called the Palm Jumeirah (3). While it is an engineering marvel, without extensive research and planning, the creation of such an island chain could have severely affected the local environment and coastal eco-system. Unfortunately, the UAE did not have time or patience for such research and planning, and therefore, the repercussions of such a large scale project have been devastating. This report will first give the reader some background on the Palm Jumeirah project and will then discuss some of the environmental repercussions of this large