Environmental Issues Faced by UAE and Their Solutions

This paper highlights three major environmental issues faced by the United Arab Emirates and their possible solutions. The paper identifies that the country is dealing with numerous environmental issues due to increasing and quick development, increasing population and demand. The three major environmental issues are limited water sources, land degradation and desertification, and air pollution. The paper also provides possible solutions to these issues.

Running head: ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
Environmental Science
3/4/2019

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE 1
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
United Arab Emirates.............................................................................................................2
Environmental Issues faced by UAE.....................................................................................2
Limited Water Sources.......................................................................................................3
Land degradation and desertification.................................................................................3
Air pollution.......................................................................................................................4
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................6

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE 2
Introduction
Earth is presently dealing with numerous numbers of environmental issues. The problems of
Environment like acid rain, waste disposal, water pollution, global warming, climate change,
etc. influence every nation, animal, and human on the planet (Conserve Energy Future, 2019).
The intent of this paper is to highlight three major environmental issues faced by the United
Arab Emirates and their possible solutions.
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates is the association of seven emirates over the Arabian Peninsula’s
eastern coast. The largest emirates out of seven are Abu Dhabi comprises around three fourth
of the total area of the land of the federation. Dubai the port city located at the Musandam
Peninsula is called as the capital of the Emirate the most important financial and commercial
center with the house of thousands of MNCs (BBC News, 2018).
Environmental Issues faced by UAE
Today, the natural environment is experiencing a number of challenges. The United Arab
Emirates is dealing with the influence of quick development and the influence of climate
change as well as global warming. Sustainable development and environmental protection are
considered the main topics, which are gaining attention of the government of the UAE
(Government. ae, 2019).
The quick economic development in the UAE has resulted in serious environmental
challenges that are caused due to increasing population, increasing demand of water and
energy and fast metropolitan growth complemented with high GHG and other emissions in
the United Arab Emirates.

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Limited Water Sources
The natural sources of freshwater in the UAE are very rare and limited to groundwater. The
country’s government is regularly using desalinated water that has been produced by the
utilization of excess heat from the generation of electricity. It has affected the marine
environment from discharging resolute seawater to the Arabian Gulf, etc. The reason for
limited water resources is the increasing tourism in the country, which resulted in high water
consumption that is not being satisfied by the natural resources (Alderman, 2010).
Solution
This problem can be solved by taking the initiative of installing electricity and water meters
in homes with the motive to allow the population to alter their behavior and think many times
about excessive use. Besides this, under this initiative, the family using an excessive amount
of water and electricity need to pay high taxes. In the meantime, the government must take
steps to develop environmentally friendly medical and electrical tools and stop the production
of goods, which waste water and energy.
Land degradation and desertification
The increasing population of the country and the changes in the social order pattern and
system of consumption perform a key role in increasing the level of desertification and land
degradation. Overexploitation of the natural resources is considered as the major factor that
results in desertification (Robertson, 2014). The increasing use of natural resources and urban
violation, along with high utilization of fertilizers and pesticides and overgrazing are adding
in the soil deterioration.

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Solution
Crop Rotation - Crop rotation is the agricultural practice adopted by the farmers by growing
different crops in the same land area following a system of rotation that supports soil
replenishment.
Trap Plants – If the choice is provided then some of the insects, prefer to feed on single kind
of plant. For instance, maggots like to have radishes over corn. Hence, some plants could be
deliberately planted in order to lure dangerous insects away from the plants that need to be
protected (Seckbach and Dubinsky, 2010).
Air pollution
Maintaining the quality of the air with the required standard is the main challenge for the
country’s environment authorities. Pollution is majorly influenced by the activities of human,
emissions from fuel combustion for energy, transport, industrial, and water activities
(Khaleel, 2017).
Solution
The government of the United Arab Emirates is taking numerous steps to improve the quality
of air, which are the causes of different heart diseases and cancer. The country’s Ministry of
Environment is working towards developing 46 air-monitoring stations in UAE to get the
proper image of the quality of air. Besides this, the government is trying to set up the largest
waste to energy facility of the world that will make use of gasification technology. The
technology will reprocess around 400,000 tonnes of the waste yearly in order to produce 85
megawatts of energy (Wasmi, 2015). In addition, the measure that can also be adapted to
improve the air quality is deregulation of petrol, which will decrease injurious emissions.

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Conclusion
The paper is focused on highlighting the increasing environmental issues in the United Arab
Emirates and the reasons for the identified issues. The above paper has identified that the
country is dealing with numerous environmental issues due to increasing and quick
development, increasing population and demand.

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References
Alderman, L. (2010) Dubai Faces Environmental Problems After Growth [online]. Available
from https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/28/business/energy-environment/28dubai.html
[accessed 4 March 2019]
BBC News (2018) United Arab Emirates country profile [online]. Available from
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-14703998 [accessed 4 March 2019]
Conserve Energy Future (2019) Environmental Concerns [online]. Available from
https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/top-25-environmental-concerns.php [accessed 4
March 2019]
Government. Ae (2019) Environmental challenges [online]. Available from
https://www.government.ae/en/information-and-services/environment-and-energy/
environmental-challenges-in-the-uae [accessed 4 March 2019]
Khaleel, Z. (2017) Huge efforts on to improve air quality in Abu Dhabi [online]. Available
from https://gulfnews.com/uae/huge-efforts-on-to-improve-air-quality-in-abu-dhabi-
1.2144445 [accessed 4 March 2019]
Robertson, C. (2014) Desertification: How UAE lands are under threat [online]. Available
from https://gulfnews.com/uae/environment/desertification-how-uae-lands-are-under-threat-
1.1343175 [accessed 4 March 2019]
Seckbach, J., and Dubinsky, Z. (2010) All Flesh Is Grass: Plant-Animal Interrelationships 2nd
ed. Germany: Springer Science & Business Media.

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Wasmi, N.A. (2015) Measures to improve UAE air quality enacted [online]. Available from
https://www.thenational.ae/uae/environment/measures-to-improve-uae-air-quality-enacted-
1.124470 [accessed 4 March 2019]