Talk:Environmental issues in the United Arab Emirates

United Arab Emirates (UAE) with a population of 9,156,963 citizen Worldbank, is one of the most rapidly growing countries in the world for the last 40 years.. It is recognized as a developing federalization with the priority in economic growth. Nevertheless, the United Arab Emirates with an focus on Abu Dhabi and Quatar started with small “green” projects in 2009. Abu Dhabi created a new form of branding by calling itself as a “green” leader. Both countries “demonstrate, fossil fuel wealth can and will be used to promote clean energy and environmental sustainability initiatives if there is an economic or political motive, as in any other state“.

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In the 2000s UAE's growing oil and gas industry created a strong dependency on exports. Later on, in 2006, the project Masdar City was the first contribution of Abu Dhabi which concerned about global warming, in particular on the implementation of natural sustainability in people´s daily life. Only three years later the United Arab Emirates hosted the International Renewable Energy Agency 2009. In this years´ UAE is facing two main problems, first water shortage and second high demand on food import..

The three main characteristics of UAE's politics, contribute to the recent natural unsustainability. First, the Emirates feature components of a Rentier state, it is governed by an authoritarian political system and both facts cause critical natural resource-related trades.

Topics: • Background • Water shortage • Food crisis

Bibliography:

"2016 Country Review United Arab Emirates." Review. 2016: n. pag. Print.

My first source is “United Arab Emirates Country Review” published by CountryWatch in 2016. Country Watch analysis information and data for private and public companies with global relations. The source is significant to get an overview about UAEs attitudes and conditions in politics, economy, investments, social interests and the most relevant one, environmental issues. The review contributes to my research about UAEs environmental problems, especially because of its given background information in all important areas.

Luomi, Mari. The Gulf Monarchies and Climate Change: Abu Dhabi and Qatar in an Era of Natural Unsustainability. N.p.: n.p., 2014. Print.

My second source is the book “The Gulf Monarchies and Climate Change: Abu Dhabi and Qatar in an Era of Natural Unsustainability” written by Mari Luomi, published to Oxford Scholarship Online in September 2014. The text covers the United Arabs Emirates dependency on oil exports, its impact on the environment and strategies to implement “natural sustainability”. The books main argument is that natural unsustainability was introduced by GCC states societies. Moreover, it points out that the UAEs are facing two main problems, water shortage and high dependency on food imports. The book will be my main source because of its high relevant information about the UASs process of becoming unsustainable and how the government is facing this problem.

Abed, Ibrahim Al. United Arab Emirates: A New Perspective. London: Trident, 2001. Print.

My third source is the book “United Arab Emirates: A New Perspective” which was written by Ibrahim Al Abed in 2001. The author focuses on the geological and biological prospective to describe the environment of the GCC states. Al Abed covers the development and characteristics of United Arab Emirates environment. Moreover, the book introduces two main ecological areas in terms of significant protection towards natural sustainability of the UAE. First, the Arabian Gulf and the Arabian Sea and second, the Arabian fog and the highland woodlands are covered in this text. The book reports over a dozen threats, which contribute to environmental destruction and exploitation. In order to enhance reader’s knowledge in UAEs environmental issues, the source provides history, biological information and ongoing influences, which are highly relevant contributions.

Human overpopulation:

Shahbaz, Muhammad, Rashid Sbia, Helmi Hamdi, and Ilhan Ozturk. "Economic Growth, Electricity Consumption, Urbanization and Environmental Degradation Relationship in United Arab Emirates."Ecological Indicators 45 (2014): 622-31. Web.

The fourth source, the article “Economic growth, electricity consumption, urbanization and environmental degradation relationship in United Arab Emirates” from Muhammad Shahbaza,b,1, Rashid Sbiac, Helmi Hamdid and Ilhan Ozturk addresses the topic of the methodology and implication in measuring the impact of income, pollution, etc. on environmental distribution. The authors using statistical analysis to find correlations between the relationship of variables contributing to CO2 pollution. Moreover, the source covers the dynamic between the variables of Economic growth, electricity consumption, urbanization and environmental degradation in a timeframe of 36 years, 1975 to 2011. The article reports all kinds of influences distributing to a higher demand on CO2-emissions. My research in UAEs CO2 pollutions is a significant input for my Wikipedia article in form of CO2 highest rated impact on global warming.

Hydrology:

Maraqa, Munjed A,, Hassan D, Imran, and Salem Hegazy. "Modeling Changes in Hydraulic Conductivity Due to Siltation Using Soil Columns from Alshuwaib Dam Site, United Arab Emirates." SpringerLink. N.p., 14 May 2015. Web. 7 Oct. 2016.

My fifth source “Modeling changes in hydraulic conductivity due to siltation using soil columns from Alshuwaib dam site, United Arab Emirates “which was written by Munjed A. Maraqa1, Hassan D. Imran1 and Salem Hegazy, distinguishes by reporting about a further technical solution from the UAEs to ensure drinking-water availability. I mentioned before, the two main sufferings of the UAEs, scarce water and food import dependency. Consequently, these topics will be in detail discussed in my Wikipedia article by applying to the source information concerning UAEs technology approach to prevent water shortage. In fact the report, published in 2014, points out that the United Arabs Emirates have a dramatically increase in water demand and that’s why new desalination stations, flash flood dams are built. The report introduces the infiltrating turbid solution by using a hydraulic gradient. Finally, the authors advocate this new technology of providing a new drinking-water source.

Maraqa, Munjed A., Hassan D. Imran, and Salem Hegazy. "Modeling Changes in Hydraulic Conductivity Due to Siltation Using Soil Columns from Alshuwaib Dam Site, United Arab Emirates." Environ Earth Sci Environmental Earth Sciences 74.5 (2015): 4345-354. Web.

My sixth source is “Hydrogeology of an arid region: the Arabian Gulf and adjoining areas / A.S. Alsharhan ... [et al.]” is written by A.S. Alsharhan, Z.A. Rizk, A.E.M. Nairn, D.W. Bakhit, S.A. Alhajari in 2001. The book is about general issues of the water resources in the Arabian Gulf. It also mentions UAEs focus on building dams to provide water availability. In 2001, 35 dams provided a value of 75 Mm³ water storage. Furthermore, desalination is still a key formulation in the UEAs, for instance, in 1998 the production of drinking-water through desalination reached 76 %. To sum up, the book, gives key distributions to my research in hydrology concern of the United Arabs Emirates.

Intensive farming:

TOLBA, MOSTAFA K., and NAJIB W. SAAB. Arab Enviornment Climate Change. Rep. N.p.: Arab Forum for Environment and Development, 2009. Print.

The seventh source is a report from the 2009 Arab Forum for Environment and Development, edited by Mostafa K. Tolba and Najib W. Saab. The report informs communities about the impacts of climate change on the Arab countries. Moreover, it recommends activities, which could prevent environmental exploitation. Furthermore, the text has its focuses mainly on human activities and their impacts on global warming. The source provides many information about UAEs facing problems like, water scarcity, sea level rise, human health, food production, tourism, biodiversity, land use and urban planning. In fact, the authors also discussing food production, which is rarely explained in other reports. Consequently, I will dive into this report by focusing on consumption aspects regarding climate change.

Nuclear issues:

Almansoori, Ali, and Alberto Betancourt-Torcat. "Design Optimization Model for the Integration of Renewable and Nuclear Energy in the United Arab Emirates’ Power System." Applied Energy 148 (2015): 234-51. Web.

The report “Design optimization model for the integration of renewable and nuclear energy in the United Arab Emirates’ power system” is written by Ali Almansoori and Alberto Betancourt-Torcat in 2014, published in 2015. The authors demonstrate again UAEs dependency on the energy of natural resources, which has reached a level of 98 % by an increasing demand of 9 % in 2009. Consequently, the authors used a mathematical model to measure the effects of government policies, for instance, carbon taxes to encourage the shift from fossil fuels to renewables. This report contains high relevant information about the development of nuclear power plants and their influences on environmental protection in the UAEs.

IsabelW94 (talk) 16:25, 14 October 2016 (UTC)

References

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): IsabelW94.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 14:54, 18 January 2022 (UTC)

Climate change denial

The first paragraph section under the climate change section is as follows: The Earth's climate has been undergoing continuous changes throughout the planet's existence, influenced by both natural cycles and human activities. One perspective posits that the current phase of global warming or climate change we are observing is part of the Earth's natural temperature fluctuations. Historical records document very warm periods, such as the Medieval Warming, and very cold phases, like the Little Ice Age, indicating a cyclical pattern of climate shifts approximately every 1,500 years. This cyclical nature suggests that the Earth is presently in an upswing of its normal temperature cycle, emphasizing the significance of understanding these natural processes alongside anthropogenic influences on climate change.

The information contained here is incorrect, as the consensus among the scientific community is that climate change is man-made, and the language in this paragraph that suggests otherwise is incorrect. I have linked a source below that shows climate change is man-made.

https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/ 2601:483:5880:58F0:B92A:8B5C:4B5E:C2CE (talk) 04:15, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

If I'm following the IP's perspective, it's that it's undue to mention the one perspective that global warming is just part of this cycle—even though it's sourced, it's into the realm of WP:FRINGE. The second paragraph does discuss man-made warming. Is it as simple as flipping the paragraphs? —C.Fred (talk) 04:19, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

I think the paragraph would be considered a fringe theory, as it goes against the current scientific consensus. Even though other paragraphs do state that climate change is man-made, I would still like to remove this paragraph for suggesting otherwise. 2601:483:5880:58F0:B92A:8B5C:4B5E:C2CE (talk) 04:35, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

Any discussion of the cause or effect of environmental / climate change that is not directly related to the UAE should be removed from the page. If there is going to be an entire section devoted to the fact that humans are causing global warming, there should be a paragraph stating that some scientists have alternative perspectives. Otherwise there is no WP:NPOV. skarz (talk) 16:29, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

Not all climate change is man-made, and it's not a fringe theory to state that fact. Scientists do agree that the climate has changed over time, it doesn't mean that human activities don't also have an effect. ... discospinster _talk 14:11, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

Neutral point of view does not mean that all viewpoints should be represented if they are not correct. It means representing information as objectively as possible. Almost all scientists agree that climate change is man-made, and stating that some people disagree should not be included in this article. 160.129.251.187 (talk) 17:41, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

Scientists also agree that climate change is natural as far as the history of the Earth is concerned (Climate variability and change). You are removing that from the article even though it is cited to a reliable source. ... discospinster _talk 19:12, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

Yes the climate has changed throughout earth's history. However, this paragraph is specifically referring to the current pattern of climate change we are experiencing within the past 200 years or so, which is man-made. Looking at the sources cited, one is from 1987 and one from 2001, so not the most recent literature. The last one is from a paper sponsored by exxon mobil, representing a conflict of interest. In addition, the scientific consensus has been that the current climate change is man-made. Finding a few sources that do not agree with this consensus does not mean that the consensus is wrong. 160.129.251.187 (talk) 20:10, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

Another thing I might add is that the term climate change is almost always understood as referring specifically to the current ongoing climate change. 160.129.251.187 (talk) 20:18, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

According to who? skarz (talk) 23:51, 20 March 2024 (UTC)

Wikipedia for one

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change

The whole article called climate change is about the current ongoing pattern of global warming, but the article is called climate change. Can you provide a source that says that their evidence that the current pattern of climate change is naturally occurring? The article cited "The Cyclical Sine Model Explanation for Climate Change" is written by a mechanical engineer, not a climate scientist. If you look at his other beliefs, he also denies evolution is real, so his beliefs do not seem to adhere to science, and the article cited is from ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company. All these factors make this source unreliable, and certainly not enough to contradict almost the entire field of climate scientists who believe climate change is man-made. PickleFish123 (talk) 01:22, 21 March 2024 (UTC)

If you look at the climate change article it is about the broad topic, including history as well as various causes. Further Wikipedia is not in and of its self a reliable source.

If your issue was specifically with the source, there a myriad ways to resolve that. You should take a look at Wikipedia:Revert only when necessary. You reverted my edits 14 times with no effort whatsoever to come to an agreement, address the issue head on, or get a third opinion.

• Zachos, J., Pagani, M., Sloan, L., Thomas, E., & Billups, K. (2001). Trends, Rhythms, and Aberrations in Global Climate 65 Ma to Present. Science, 292, 686 - 693. https://doi.org/10.1126/SCIENCE.1059412.
• Khairullina, E., Bogdanova, V., Slepneva, E., Nizamutdinova, G., Fatkhullina, L., Kovalenko, Y., & Skutelnik, O. (2019). Global climate change: cyclical nature of natural and permanent nature of man-made processes. Eurasian Journal of Biosciences, 13, 2311-2316.
• Nierode, D. (2021). The Cyclical Sine Model Explanation for Climate Change. International Journal of Plant, Animal and Environmental Sciences. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-848733/v1.
• Guiot, J., Pons, A., Beaulieu, J., & Reille, M. (1989). A 140,000-year continental climate reconstruction from two European pollen records. Nature, 338, 309-313. https://doi.org/10.1038/338309A0.
• Hegerl, G., Brönnimann, S., Schurer, A., & Cowan, T. (2018). The early 20th century warming: Anomalies, causes, and consequences. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews. Climate Change, 9. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.522.
• Patricola, C.M., Cook, K.H. Mid-twenty-first century climate change in the Central United States. Part II: Climate change processes. Clim Dyn 40, 569–583 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-012-1379-z
• Taylor, M. Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation. 7 Jan. 2022, p. 39183388. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1079/cabicompendium.39183388.
• Wunsch, Carl, et al. “Climate Change as an Intergenerational Problem.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 110, no. 12, Mar. 2013, pp. 4435–36. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1302536110.

skarz (talk) 04:10, 21 March 2024 (UTC)

I feel like I explained in my reverts that I believed the information presented was wrong. I also made a thread in the talk page to discuss it. I feel like I have made some effort to discuss this, but you are the one who keeps reverting with little explanation. I would like to resolve this issue and be done with it.

The paragraph states "One perspective posits that the current phase of global warming or climate change we are observing is part of the Earth's natural temperature fluctuations." The paragraph there is specifically referring to the current pattern of global warming, not the concept of climate change in general. We should not have a paragraph treating this perspective as if it is correct. PickleFish123 (talk) 04:25, 21 March 2024 (UTC)

https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/causes/

https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/scientific-consensus/

You are correct that the earth's climate has changed over its history, but that does not automatically mean that this ongoing global warming is natural. All evidence points to it being man-made, and the consensus of the scientific community is that natural factors are not the cause of it. I think it could be helpful for this discussion if you respond to my critiques of your source "The Cyclical Sine Model Explanation for Climate Change" that I made previously in this thread. PickleFish123 (talk) 04:33, 21 March 2024 (UTC)

Thanks @PickleFish123. I deleted the 2 paras below as we already have a featured article on climate change in general and this article is about the UAE

The Earth's climate has been undergoing continuous changes throughout the planet's existence, influenced by both natural cycles and human activities. One perspective posits that the current phase of global warming or climate change we are observing is part of the Earth's natural temperature fluctuations. Historical records document very warm periods, such as the Medieval Warming, and very cold phases, like the Little Ice Age, indicating a cyclical pattern of climate shifts approximately every 1,500 years. This cyclical nature suggests that the Earth is presently in an upswing of its normal temperature cycle, emphasizing the significance of understanding these natural processes alongside anthropogenic influences on climate change.

In recent years, human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels have caused global warming. "The current warming trend is of particular significance because most of it is very likely human-induced and proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented in the past 1,300 years." In other words, today's climate change is caused by human activity. The global warming of over 2 °C would begin to seriously threaten global living. Chidgk1 (talk) 17:12, 24 March 2024 (UTC)

References