Dubai’s Biodiversity, and Saving the Bees

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  1. Using your insights, values, and knowledge from this course, research an urban planning project that has impacted its surrounding environment, focusing on biodiversity. Discuss the hazards that come along with it, as well as the ethics of the matter. (150-250 words)
    1. Dubai, a quickly growing city in the United Arab Emirates, is well known for its biggest, largest, and tallest attractions. In 2001, Nakheel properties began constructing the famous Palm Jumeirah Islands. These islands were constructed using land reclamation, which requires heavy earth moving. This construction heavily impacted the Persian Gulf’s marine environment, forcing such change on waters altered many things from coral area shifts, to biodiverse confusion. These land shifts altered wave sizes, which played a heavier role than many think, which also led to migrations of animals to different areas, which can induce invasive species. Ethics comes to play when we ask ourselves if tourist attractions like these are really worth the environmental impact that comes attached to them. As Dubai continues to innovate interesting ways to keep tourism as high as is it, environmental impacts are not nearly as much of a concern as they should be.
  2. Draw a system diagram representing such topic
    1. dubai diagram
  3. Using past experiences and personal insight, talk about a biodiversity that impacts you personally and deeply
    1. A decline in the world’s bee population has began to already show its effects as they are nature’s pollinator.There has already been a 40% loss in commercialized honeybee in the US since 2006. The main influence in this statistics is the growth of insecticide usage across the agricultural industry. Asides from pesticide usage, the bee population has also been influenced by parasites, pathogens, herbicide, industrial practices, and climate change. Some estimates range from 50-80% of the world’s food supply being directly or indirectly affected by honey bee pollination. Whether it’s pollination of apples, or pollination of the seeds used to produce grain for livestock, the food chain is linked to honey bees. The world’s production of food is dependent on pollination provided by honey bees. I believe the world doesn’t completely understand how heavy the bees’ influence is and I often think most of us won’t until the damage is irreversible.

One thought on “Dubai’s Biodiversity, and Saving the Bees”

  1. Hi Amir, I enjoyed your post. Here’s a link to mine if you want to take a look. http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/04/21/mod-10-chris-miller/

    I think Dubai is a great example of an ethical dilemma. It’s the classic conflict of human interests vs. nature. I mean Dubai has the money to transform the environment because of their vast oil wealth. They are also in dire straights because oil will not last forever so they need to change the environment to diversify to other sources of revenue. I see the situation as they either change the environment or leave the area eventually.

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