Enivornmental Impacts of the World Islands

CENTRE NO - AE105 CANDIDATE NO - 0535 NAME – MANASVI TRIVEDI
ENVIORNMENTAL
MANAGEMENT
.
PROJECT QUESTION - To what extend did the building of the
World islands affect the environment and what steps did
Nakheel take to minimize the effects?
BY – MANASVI TRIVEDI

“Growth has been so intense and enormous, but people forgot
about the environment,” said jean-François seznec, a middle
east expert and professor at Georgetown University in
Washington. “The attitude was, business comes first. Now, they
are seeing increased problems, and they realize they have to
be careful.”
INTRODUCTION
Since the 1960s Dubai has gone through a remarkable transformation. Dubai has been
built on its oil reserves, at its peak; it produced 91 million barrels per year worth 1.5billion
dollars. It is estimated by 2016 the oil supply will run dry and the lucrative fields will cease
to operate. Dubai must change from emirate reliant on oil to land filled with tourism and
which it has, Dubai has built some mega structures in order to attract the most world’s
population. Burj khalifa, the worlds biggest building, Burj al Arab, one of the most
exclusive hotels etc. And now they are revolutionizing the coastline by building 2
enormous reclaimed islands known as the palm island stretched.10 kms out the sea
shockingly this wasn’t the end of it. The sheikh came out with his boldest plan ever, To
build a even larger island with a design even more complicated than the palm. A island in
the shape of the world, known as the world islands.
Nakheel the creator of several land reclamation projects is the developer of the World
islands. However the construction of the World, for all Nakheel's attempts to do otherwise,
have had a clear and significant impact on the surrounding environment.

ENVIORNMENTAL IMPACTS OF THE ARTIFICAL ISLAND
From the air, The World and Palm projects create a highly visible impression on the
landscape of Dubai. And back down at sea level, significant changes in the marine
environment are leaving a visual scar of another type. As a result of the dredging and
depositing 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.
In order to understand the ecological changes that are occurring, background knowledge
of the ecosystem in the Persian Gulf is necessary. One of its defining features is
shallowness. In some places, water is only 35-81 meters deep, with shallow slopes
leading into the basin. In addition, there high velocity winds, which generate tall waves
and create currents. The high temperatures in the area also cause high evaporation rates
which, coupled with desalination plants that pump extra salt and minerals into the water,
increase the overall salinity of the Gulf. Marine life in the area has had to adapt to these
harsh condition changes in addition to anthropogenic
influences like water travel and fishing

 Shoreline erosion is a major issue, from the World islands. The island disrupts
sediment transport because of waves transforming as they bend around the
island. This “starves” the beaches of sediment, and causes a great deal of
erosion .In addition; the presence of the World islands increases wave height
as well as changing wave direction. These changes cause a reversal in the
direction of sediment motion. Historically in the past, sediment moved from
southwestward to northeastward, but that has now changed by thirty to fifty
degrees, depending on location and distance from the island. All of these
factors contribute to erosion, which is expected to reach between 33 and 100
meters in 20 years, respective to the area of the beach.
 Changing water currents also play a major role in pollution. The World islands
obstruct tidal flow along the coast, causing currents to flow in to the lagoon of

the island by narrow entrances. In turn, this causes pollution. The geometric
design of the area dictates that wind-generated & tidal-driven currents greatly
affect the way water is cycled throughout the island. When water is not
flushed out & has a high residency time, it forms dead ends or areas of
stagnant water. The stagnant water becomes rich in nutrients & contributes to
eutrophication, or the increase of phytoplankton in response to higher
concentrations. The increase of phytoplankton causes depletion of oxygen &
low water transparency, lowering the general quality.
 One of the largest effects of construction of the World islands was the
elimination of plenty of coral. An estimated 10-15% of the area is covered by
coral, and has been affected by construction of the island. Of the 25 square
kilometers that make up the total area, about 8.33 square kilometers became
the World island, burying .83-1.25 square kilometers, or one million square
meters, of coral. Debris from dredging and other construction aspects are
thought to have killed an additional 1.6 to 2.5 million square meters of coral.
The pumping of hot industrial effluents in to the Gulf increases the
temperature and causes more ecological issues for local coral, such as
bleaching. Construction also caused plenty of fish species to migrate out of
the area, or die Turtle nesting sites were also destroyed in the construction of
the World islands

INTERVIEW WITH AN ENVIORNMENT CONSULTANT AT NAKHEEL
*name requested to be confidential
1) Who is behind the creation of the World islands and when did the project start ?
His highness Sheikh Muhammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum was the brain behind this
mega structure. His vision is to make Dubai, a top tourist destination and make it a
iconic global landmark. The project started in the year 2003.
2) How big are the World islands?
The world islands is made of 300 islands and the size of each will range from 250, 000
– 900,000 square feet. The entire area will cover around 9 kilometers in length and 6
kilometers in width.
3) How much material of sand and rock were used?
Approx. 321 million cubic meters of sand and 386 million tons of rock.
4) What were the difficulties and challenges you faced during the making of this project?
His highness had been very concerned about the environment, so he decided to use
natural materials like sand and rocks to build the world islands instead of steel and
concrete which made the design even more difficult. The problem with sand is
erosion due to the wave action and currents. The second problem was to transport
the materials to the middle of the sea, as there was no bridge that could be used
unlike at the Palms. The only way was using boats.
5) How were the challenges overcome?
The only way to stop the sand from being shifted was to build a strong sea wall.
However this breakwater wall was supposed to be much larger than the one at the

Palms and might spoil the view for the island owners. So one of the experts came up
with idea of building a artificial reef to withstand the pressure of the waves and
minimize the effect from 100% to 5%. Only after numerous testing over miniature
breakwater wall it was given a go ahead
6) How big is the breakwater wall and how was it useful
The breakwater wall is 25 kms long. This breakwater wall was very important to
withstand the forces of the sea. Especially the northern Shamal storms, which hit the
coast twice a year bringing 2-meter waves.
7) What steps were taken to avoid environmental effects?
There were several steps taken, our main concern was the coral reefs and marine
life. The breakwater artificial reef provided a new home for the marine life and the
corals that were shifted about 18 kms from their original place in order to not damage
them while the construction. The building of the breakwater provided a stabile
environment for marine life to survive, increasing their growth rate and breaks were
made in the breakwater wall to avoid stagnant water.
8) If these steps weren’t taken what would be the effect?
If these steps weren’t taken we would have major environment concerns. The coral
reefs would be severely damaged because of the construction. There would be even
more decline in the marine life in that area. The stagnant water would make the
water green and stinky killing the marine life
9) what is next for Nakheel?
We are working on the Universe project. It will surround the world islands. There
would be the sun, all the other planets, moon and the stars.

Artificial Reef Design (Break Water Wall)
The first layer of the reef trips the wave taking out half of its energy, then as the
wave travels along horizontal part of the step the shallow water causes further
friction. As it hits the second step its forced is reduced again and finally the wave is
almost completely stopped when it hits the top of the breakwater.
The universe project

CONCLUSION OF THE INTERVIEW
In my opinion, surely Nakeel has done a commendable job in saving the ecology of the
area for the world to see and set an example. However Nakheel couldn’t stop the obvious
damages. I agree they tried to save the coral reefs, but shifting them from their natural
environment is damaging itself. They would have damaged many of them in the process
of shifting. Instead they could have shift the project of world islands somewhere else,
which didn’t have the coral reef bed. Its like cutting down a rainforest to build a building
and planting trees outside saying they are environmentally friendly.
Building a breakwater wall was good thing because it increased the population of marine
life in that area and the artificial reef also provided them with a stabile habitat. It’s very
difficult to conclude if there’s been a devastating effect on the ecology because there are
no proper figures or any data to prove it. Though Nakheel claims that they have kept tried
not to harm the environment as much as possible.

SURVEY RESULTS

LINK OF THE SURVEY
http://freeonlinesurveys.com/s/33v96iz9itd9yau660123
SUCCESS AND SHORT COMINGS
I had a lot of shortcomings in my project and very few successes. One of the successes
was finishing the project on time, which seemed difficult because I had not management
my time well but as we say better late then never. Nakheel people were quite laidback at
the start but they turned out to be quite helpful at the end so that would be another
success. I believe if I would have got a little more time I would be able to present a even

better project, though I tried my best to collaborate everything together as perfectly as
possible at the same time meeting my deadline.
All thought forgetting the stress and anxiety, this project has made me aware about the
environmental state of my own country. It made me gain more knowledge about the
upcoming infrastructure-taking place in Dubai, keeping me up to date with the world.

Enivornmental Impacts of the World Islands

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