Dubai's beach expansion holds ‘ecological benefit’ to wider coastal restoration plan

As Dubai readies to create the emirate's longest public beach in Jebel Ali as a major eco-tourism push, it will also hold a vital “ecological benefit” to the country's wider conservation plans.

“Beaches may look like ecological deserts, but there are lots of animals that live inside the beach. From a conservation point of view it’s another advantage,” explained Gerd Masselink, professor of coastal geomorphology at the University of Plymouth in the UK.

The beaches help in creating “habitats for beach organisms” and will add to the efforts of conservationists who continue to protect coral reefs and other natural habitats, Prof Masselink said.

The 6.6km beach, which will be divided into three sections, will be located within the Jebel Ali Wildlife Sanctuary. It will benefit from a 1.6km mangrove beach and turtle habitats will be enhanced.

Beach nourishment

The project was announced just a month after Dubai authorities revealed they would add more than half a million cubic metres of sand to strengthen the defences at Al Mamzar Beach, which stretches for 4.3km, and Jumeirah 1 Beach, which is 1.4km long.

Such a “beach nourishment” approach contrasts with the alternative strategy of building sea walls or creating piles of huge rocks or revetments to hold back the sea.

Prof Masselink explained that sandy beaches offer a “more natural shoreline” than sea walls and one that responds and adapts to sea-level rises and other pressures.

After a storm, a sandy beach may become narrower after it has been battered by severe waves, but over time it may become wider again as sand is returned to the beach.

Beach nourishment is sometimes seen as a “nature-based solution” to pressures such as sea-level rises, but Prof Masselink said there were potential ecological downsides, such as the risk of damage to the sea bed where the sand was dredged from.

“There’s the potential for collateral damage if there’s a lot of sand that needs to be moved from one place to another,” he said.

Another issue is that dredging and beach nourishment can increase the amount of sediment in the water, which can smother coral reefs when it settles.

In the Maldives, Prof Masselink said, some coral reefs have been replaced by seagrass, which is better able to cope with sedimentation, because of harbour construction and beach nourishment.

Restoring coral reefs

Aside from developing its beaches, the UAE is investing heavily to protect its coral reefs, which face significant pressures from the impact of climate change.

High temperatures can cause coral bleaching, where they expel the algae (zooxanthellae) living in their tissues causing it to turn completely white.

Since 2021, the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD) has carried out coral restoration projects that increase coral reef cover by growing fragments in nurseries and relocating them to areas that demand attention.

EAD is also restoring mangrove forests and announced in late 2023 that it had, with help from other government bodies, planted 23 million mangrove trees over two years.

This forms part of efforts to plant 100 million mangrove trees by the end of the decade through the Abu Dhabi Mangrove Initiative.

A year ago developer URB announced the Dubai Reefs project, a floating “eco-tourism hub” that aims to create the “world’s largest artificial reef” covering 200 square kilometres, along with homes, shops and other facilities.

URB also recently announced the Dubai Mangroves project, which will see the planting of more than 100 million mangrove trees and the creation of cycling and running tracks.

Among the other efforts to restore the UAE’s coral reefs is Project REEFrame, an initiative officially launched three years ago.

A one-hectare artificial reef has been created on what had been bare sand off the UAE’s east coast, and a 10-hectare reef is now being constructed.

Darryl Owen, the owner of Freestyle Divers firm that runs the initiative, said that as well as high sea-surface temperatures, corals faced pressures from the acidification of seawater – also due to climate change – and sedimentation.

“We’re creating a biobank which means if we have a bleaching event, we have a stock that can be used to repair damage to natural reefs once the temperature goes down,” he said.

“We’re hoping we’ll increase the stocks and give us more safety, more numbers.”

Mr Owen said that corals on the UAE’s east coast, where water temperatures are milder, had been less affected by bleaching events than those in the Arabian Gulf, where bleaching has had severe impacts.

Climate change means that temperature peaks “well outside the normal parameters” have been experienced, Mr Owen said.

“We need to protect the coral from these high surface temperatures so we have to create reserves in places where we have cooler currents.”

The aim is to place corals in locations that are deep enough that they avoid the high sea-surface temperatures, but not so deep that the corals cannot get enough light.

Economic benefits

Creating new beaches is a tried-and-tested strategy that authorities in other parts of the world have deployed with success.

“Barcelona did not have any beaches. Twenty-five years ago they created a whole bunch of beaches before the Olympics. They have been a huge success in terms of reinvigorating the seafront in terms of economic investment and tourism,” added Prof Masselink.