Major environmental threats in the UAE
Urbanization and Industrial Development
© WWF-Canon / Hartmut JUNGIUS
© WF-UAE/Dubai Municipality
The major environmental threats in the UAE can be summarized as those that a fast developing country is facing.
The transition between a traditional economy based on subsistence fisheries, oasis agriculture and livestock to a modern, highly urbanized country in less than 30 years is affecting the environment.
Habitat for wildlife has been lost due to urbanization and industrial development (oil and gas), over fishing and over grazing. The fast urbanization is bringing problems of waste management.
Pollution concerns are rising, especially in the proximity of new industrial complexes; and also on account of the oil trade. Ground water is being extracted at a very high pace to satisfy the demand of green belt plantations and new farming.
Ecological Footprint
World resources are being consumed at a rate 25 % faster on average than their availability. This trend towards overshoot (using far over our natural resource means) began in the early 1980’s. Globally, in 2003, the bio-capacity was 1.8 global hectares/ person, while the footprint was 22% higher at 2.2 gha/ person. At the national level these world figures are more impressive. In the UAE, numbers stand rather magnified.
The 2006 Ecological Footprint of the UAE was recorded to be 11.8 global hectares per capita. In other words, each resident in the UAE lives as if there were 7 planets available to support his/ her lifestyle
Tourism
Recreational outdoor activities are now starting to affect the environment, especially in fragile ecosystems such as 'wadis' in the Hajjar Mountains where an increasing number of occasional tourists are camping around, and swimming in, the 'wadis.'
The coastline is also affected by the development of large tourist resorts and several coastal areas of regional importance are being threatened by tourism development. Indirectly affecting the environment is the lack of an organized institutional framework and environmental legislation Awareness.
Awareness
The environment is very much a concern that is being addressed at the government and non-government levels. However, people's understanding of what needs to be done is still very poor, and the link between lifestyles in the Emirates and its effects on the environment is not understood.
