JUST LAUNCHED

Policy Report

Managing the growing impacts of development

on fragile coastal and marine ecosystems:

Lessons from the Gulf

16th November 2011
United Nations Headquarters, New York
Room 4, 1st Floor, North Lawn Building
13:00-15:00

Agenda for this event

This project (Dec 2006 – Nov 2009) was a collaborative effort between UNU-INWEH and Nakheel, a subsidiary of Dubai World and creator of the large off-shore residential developments along the Dubai coastline including Palm Jumeirah, Palm Jebel Ali, The World, Dubai Waterfront and Palm Deira.

Project Objectives

The primary goal was to design and implement a long-term environmental monitoring program (EMP) and management plan for marine waters surrounding these large-scale developments. Ecological and environmental research was carried out to determine the nature of these newly developed ecosystems and how they respond to weather and other environmental variables.

This project served as a platform for capacity building in specific aspects of coastal marine management in the UAE, the wider Gulf region, and the international community. A series of training workshops were held on marine monitoring methods, environmental impact assessment and other topics, collaborative research projects were undertaken with members of the national and regional academic community, and mentoring of Nakheel and affiliated personnel was provided. Our aim was to share our experiences so that best practices would be adopted for environmental sustainability in the face of these major off-shore construction projects.

Project Activities

The agreement with Nakheel was formally signed in January 2007. During the first six months, UNU-INWEH recruited a small Dubai-based team which was housed within the Nakheel Environment Department. This group was supported by a North American-based team including Principal Investigators from three Universities.

As part of this program, UNU-INWEH aimed to produce the necessary data and information to contribute to the sustainable management of the Nakheel Marine Projects (NMP).

Programme Components

1. Environmental Monitoring Program (EMP)

2. Assessment of marine habitats and biological characteristics across Nakheel Marine Projects (NMPs)

3. Detailed water quality studies, and models of temperature/salinity/oxygen response

4. Capacity-building opportunities

In addition to research and monitoring in the immediate vicinity of the Nakheel developments, surveys were conducted to determine the natural ecology of the Gulf so this could be compared to the waters of the eastern UAE and Oman. The aim was to improve our ability to detect and understand any environmental changes caused by the presence of the Nakheel developments.

Landmark Events

Project Team