In The Road To Fulfilment, an Expo 2020 Dubai film, director Nayla Al Khaja highlights the vibrancy and potential of the UAE ecosystem, as well as the importance of conservation efforts that have significant ripples in our daily lives.
The short documentary won the Silver Dolphin at this year’s Cannes Corporate Media and TV Awards in September, regarded as one of the leading prizes in the corporate film industry. The work is divided into three parts, dedicated to the UAE’s air, earth and water, and features leading experts from each field.
Among these is Phil Dunn, senior manager of Terra – the Sustainability Pavilion at Expo City Dubai.
In the documentary, Dunn speaks about his efforts as part of his Sustainable Human Project, in which he spent a year living off food grown at his home in The Sustainable City, Dubai. He also developed a barter system, in which he would exchange woodwork he created from recycled materials, for food from his neighbours.
The Sustainable City is unlike other neighbourhoods in the city. It features 11 biodome greenhouses as well as a solar power system capable of delivering 10 megawatts of power. The neighbourhood was designed to prove that a wholly sustainable community in Dubai is not a far-fetched idea.
“There's a big misconception that the UAE is just a vast, barren desert,” Dunn tells The National. “That is so far from the truth. There is very, very good infrastructure that is starting to take place. There is a whole ministry that is focused on food security. It’s such a big mandate for the UAE. In the right season, anyone can grow food. Growing food outside is quite simple to do, given a bit of time and effort and responsibility to your plant babies.”
The Road to Fulfilment highlights Dunn’s efforts, showing how his Sustainable Human Project is a testament to the possibility of living sustainably in Dubai and the communal spirit it nurtures.
“The film was a vision of the sustainability department at Expo 2020,” Dunn says. “They wanted to tell the story of how the UAE is an agent of change, [and that] things are happening around sustainability, and tell it through human stories.
“It just so happened that my story around the Sustainable Human Project was chosen as one of the three stories,” he says.
The film was shot in September 2021, when Dunn was already halfway into the project. He had all his systems in place for growing his own food. “I had a good understanding of what it took to do those sorts of things,” he says. “On top of that, I was also working at Expo 2020, at the education and culture department, specifically in Terra. The Sustainability Pavilion is really leading on that message of how individual action can make a difference towards climate change.”
The Road to Fulfilment sustains that message, Dunn says, by showing how three individuals can trigger positive environmental consequences, and by extension inspire a larger community to take action.
“In my instance, growing your own food can lead to an awareness that brings you to bigger topics and bigger subjects that we all need to be talking about,” he says. “For instance, in the UAE, that conversation around food security is a big one.
“The biggest misconception that the film, I hope, tries to tackle is the idea that our individual actions don't make a difference,” Dunn says. “That the problems we're facing are too large that we can't act alone.”
Highlighting the UAE’s marine life in The Road to Fulfilment is Noora Albalooshi.
A scientist at the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, Albalooshi details how dolphins are part of a complex social network, with a language that is more sophisticated than most people think.
“Dolphins are excessively talkative creatures,” she says in the documentary. “Dolphins not only whistle and click, they also emit loud broadband packets of sound called burst pulse sounds to discipline their young and chase away sharks.”
Albalooshi’s research on dolphin acoustics makes use of hydrophones, which she says, are some “of the first of their kind in the UAE”. She also looks back at her career in marine biology in the film, saying it was not an easy path when she started. “It was possible to count the number of women on one’s fingertips,” she says, before adding: “Today more and more women are involved.”
Speaking on marine conservation efforts, she says initiatives such as the Hammour House – an art installation and community project at Expo 2020 Dubai dedicated to endangered coral ecosystems – are integral in helping the public understand what scientists are working on. It also helps inspire a new generation of marine biologists, saying that her own passion and love for marine life began at a young age with “values instilled by my grandfather”.
Sheikh Salem bin Sultan Al Qasimi, meanwhile, who is the first of the three subjects to appear in the film, underscores the importance of bees in the local and global environment.
“In my lifetime the common bumblebee has gone from being prolific in every garden to being endangered,” Sheikh Salem, a conservationist and chairman of the One Hive initiative, says in the film. “That’s hard to conceive but it is true. When I’m around bees, I feel responsibility towards them. To sustain them and to sustain Mother Earth.”
“A lot of people don’t know the importance of bees, what they contribute to our food system, our industry and our Mother Earth,” he says, before adding: “Life will stop after four years if bees disappear.”
Efforts to bring the local bee population back to its former splendour include planting the right flora for bees, stopping the use of pesticides and adapting the hive to the environment to ensure it will thrive. “If you adapt the hive, you become the ambassador of bees,” Sheikh Salem says in the film.
The three stories in The Road to Fulfilment, coupled with Al Khaja’s sprawling and tender shots of the local flora and fauna, is a moving watch, which upends the dry expectations of what a corporate film could be. The film, as Dunn highlights, is a visual extension of the sustainability values Expo 2020 Dubai and Terra hope to impart. Even after Expo 2020 Dubai wrapped up last year, Terra – the Sustainability pavilion is continuing its initiatives.
“In the lead-up to Cop28, there are several initiatives that are happening in Expo city and Terra that specifically talk about food security, how to grow your own food and urban farming,” Dunn says.
“Terra is the hub of green education in the UAE. We’re really delivering a lot of green education programmes out of Terra, focused on UAE schools. We've had about 16,000 students since the beginning of the year come to Terra. We offer them workshops on all different things from waste to water to energy and habitat and biodiversity.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
List of officials:
Referees: Chris Broad, David Boon, Jeff Crowe, Andy Pycroft, Ranjan Madugalle and Richie Richardson.
Umpires: Aleem Dar, Kumara Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus, Chris Gaffaney, Ian Gould, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Nigel Llong, Bruce Oxenford, Ruchira Palliyaguruge, Sundaram Ravi, Paul Reiffel, Rod Tucker, Michael Gough, Joel Wilson and Paul Wilson.
The biog
Age: 59
From: Giza Governorate, Egypt
Family: A daughter, two sons and wife
Favourite tree: Ghaf
Runner up favourite tree: Frankincense
Favourite place on Sir Bani Yas Island: “I love all of Sir Bani Yas. Every spot of Sir Bani Yas, I love it.”
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
Company profile
Name: Dukkantek
Started: January 2021
Founders: Sanad Yaghi, Ali Al Sayegh and Shadi Joulani
Based: UAE
Number of employees: 140
Sector: B2B Vertical SaaS(software as a service)
Investment: $5.2 million
Funding stage: Seed round
Investors: Global Founders Capital, Colle Capital Partners, Wamda Capital, Plug and Play, Comma Capital, Nowais Capital, Annex Investments and AMK Investment Office
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
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Company profile
Name: Tharb
Started: December 2016
Founder: Eisa Alsubousi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: Luxury leather goods
Initial investment: Dh150,000 from personal savings
How to get exposure to gold
Although you can buy gold easily on the Dubai markets, the problem with buying physical bars, coins or jewellery is that you then have storage, security and insurance issues.
A far easier option is to invest in a low-cost exchange traded fund (ETF) that invests in the precious metal instead, for example, ETFS Physical Gold (PHAU) and iShares Physical Gold (SGLN) both track physical gold. The VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF invests directly in mining companies.
Alternatively, BlackRock Gold & General seeks to achieve long-term capital growth primarily through an actively managed portfolio of gold mining, commodity and precious-metal related shares. Its largest portfolio holdings include gold miners Newcrest Mining, Barrick Gold Corp, Agnico Eagle Mines and the NewMont Goldcorp.
Brave investors could take on the added risk of buying individual gold mining stocks, many of which have performed wonderfully well lately.
London-listed Centamin is up more than 70 per cent in just three months, although in a sign of its volatility, it is down 5 per cent on two years ago. Trans-Siberian Gold, listed on London's alternative investment market (AIM) for small stocks, has seen its share price almost quadruple from 34p to 124p over the same period, but do not assume this kind of runaway growth can continue for long
However, buying individual equities like these is highly risky, as their share prices can crash just as quickly, which isn't what what you want from a supposedly safe haven.
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V8
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 582bhp
Torque: 730Nm
Price: Dh649,000
On sale: now
RedCrow Intelligence Company Profile
Started: 2016
Founders: Hussein Nasser Eddin, Laila Akel, Tayeb Akel
Based: Ramallah, Palestine
Sector: Technology, Security
# of staff: 13
Investment: $745,000
Investors: Palestine’s Ibtikar Fund, Abu Dhabi’s Gothams and angel investors
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The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
The five pillars of Islam
Napoleon
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Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Essentials
The flights
Whether you trek after mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda or the Congo, the most convenient international airport is in Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali. There are direct flights from Dubai a couple of days a week with RwandAir. Otherwise, an indirect route is available via Nairobi with Kenya Airways. Flydubai flies to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, via Entebbe in Uganda. Expect to pay from US$350 (Dh1,286) return, including taxes.
The tours
Superb ape-watching tours that take in all three gorilla countries mentioned above are run by Natural World Safaris. In September, the company will be operating a unique Ugandan ape safari guided by well-known primatologist Ben Garrod.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, local operator Kivu Travel can organise pretty much any kind of safari throughout the Virunga National Park and elsewhere in eastern Congo.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Tori Amos
Native Invader
Decca
