----The PalmIslands in Dubai, are a man made island chain that is under construction. It is composed of three islands, the Palm Jumeirah, the Palm Jebel Ali and the Palm Deira. The Palm Jumeriah is almost complete and residents actually began moving in last year. The Palm Jebel Ali is actually now starting its reclamation and is twice the size of the Palm Jumeriah. Construction has not really begun on the Palm Deira. They have also begun construction on a third island called The World. It is off the coast of Dubai and is shaped like earth. While these projects are extremely impressing engineering wise they have some profound effects on the environment of Dubai.
----The islands are bringing some extreme economic growth to Dubai. But the question at hand is that are the economic growth patterns that these islands show worth the amount of environmental damage they are causing. The silt form the Islands clouds the waters around Dubai. This in turn has made it hard for underwater wildlife to flourish. The coral reefs in the surrounding area are also having trouble thriving. The main designer even admits that the construction has ruined and completely covered many coral reefs. It has also messed up the natural migration of fish that the area used to see. The islands are built by dredging up the sand from surrounding areas and transporting it back to the islands. They have depleted their allotted source of sand so much that they now may not have enough to finish according to one article I encountered.
-----They are also bringing large amounts of rock in from quarries many miles inland. They bring so many truck loads in per day that the transportation in Dubai has become horrendous. The transportation authorities actually came up with a plan to limit the amount of trucks allowed and this is not hurting the progress of the islands. I saw TV series on national geographic that explained the traffic problems in more detail.
-----Overall I believe that the PalmIslands were an economic plan that did not really consider the environment in their plan. The billions of dollars spent on this project could have been used for something more useful. I believe more research needs to be done to determine what the long term effects will be. The amount of headaches and destruction this project has caused are not worth it.
Congratulations Dubai... you've now created your own Disney World! I feel like in that particular region of the world they are somehow trying to prove that there is nothing they can't do. It seems completely ridiculous that a project like this can be undertaken without considering the environmental effects. I suppose Dubai's proposed "Masdar City" will give them back Karma points for what they've created. Then again, if sea levels continue to rise these islands could be gone anyway. Couldn't they have wasted their billions of dollars in efforts to stop global climate change first?
I have to admit that the creation of these islands was really impressive to me, but in analyzing the environmental impacts of such projects the cost of creating man-made islands is not worth the damage. I fear that as population increases, and this island-making technology becomes more economically efficient, we will see a lot more of these islands spring up to meet the demands of space requirements. I must completely agree with you that this money should have been spent on something more environmentally friendly. This just increases my annoyance with nations that continue to place environmental issues as a low priority when making decisions.
Congratulations Dubai... you've now created your own Disney World! I feel like in that particular region of the world they are somehow trying to prove that there is nothing they can't do. It seems completely ridiculous that a project like this can be undertaken without considering the environmental effects. I suppose Dubai's proposed "Masdar City" will give them back Karma points for what they've created. Then again, if sea levels continue to rise these islands could be gone anyway. Couldn't they have wasted their billions of dollars in efforts to stop global climate change first?
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that the creation of these islands was really impressive to me, but in analyzing the environmental impacts of such projects the cost of creating man-made islands is not worth the damage. I fear that as population increases, and this island-making technology becomes more economically efficient, we will see a lot more of these islands spring up to meet the demands of space requirements. I must completely agree with you that this money should have been spent on something more environmentally friendly. This just increases my annoyance with nations that continue to place environmental issues as a low priority when making decisions.
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