Chapter 1: Introduction
1.2 Literature Review
1.2.6 Sea Level Rise at Local Levels
The United Arab Emirates will also experience serious impacts because of sea- level rise. The growth of the UAE population is described as accelerated growth. The growth rate of the UAE population is considered to be one of the highest rates around the world from 1975 - 2005. The reason behind mentioning the growth rate of UAE is that several environmental problems have resulted and particularly most of this population are concentrated on the coastlines and islands, especially in Abu Dhabi as reported in the literature of Ksiksi et al. (2012). In addition, most of the outstanding developments are located in the seashore and islands too. Another literature of El Raey (2010) supported the same idea of the development projects that targeted entertainment, tourism, and estate industries in reference to its richness with natural resources. Those natural resources in the UAE are known as valuable assets to be protected. Natural resources contributed to diversifying the economy of the country that has been increased recently. The UAE coastal areas are known to hold almost 85%
of the population, more than 90% of the infrastructure, multiple vulnerable ecological
subsystems, and significant cultural patrimony. Climate change will raise the sea levels, sea surface temperature and change the wave dynamic so, the coastal areas will be highly vulnerable to climate change and economic damages are expected to happen at a high rate. Melville-Rea et al. (2021) have agreed on their study that much of the UAE's low-lying coastline is shallowly sloped (about 35 cm per kilometer) and hence vulnerable to floods (Ksiksi et al., 2012; El Raey, 2010; Melville-Rea et al., 2021).
A study done by Ksiksi et al. (2012) to address the impact of sea-level rise on land use and mangrove areas by utilizing Landsat images, DEM, ArcGis, and constructing natural vulnerability index, resulted with approximately 1.5% of urban areas will be affected by 0.5m rise in sea level and in the worst scenario which is a 3 m rise in sea level will damage 40% of urban areas in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.
Another study reported the damages of urban areas due to sea-level rise, such as Dasgupta et al. (2007) among MENA countries, and the highest level of impact was estimated for UAE. Around 5% of urban areas will be impacted by a 1 m rise in sea level and 13% by a 5 m rise in sea level on a country level. All UAE coastal cities will experience severe inundations as Hereher (2020) argued in his research that despite the United Arab Emirates has extended their area by initiating artificial islands and coasts, the expected sea-level rise constitutes a threat to these developments. Planning and implementing coastal protection structures may help to reduce the risk (Ksiksi et al., 2012; Dasgupta et al., 2007; Hereher, 2020).
The study of Hereher (2020) showed the inundated areas of UAE that range from 1,155 Km2 to almost 5,000 Km2 of UAE total area. Sabkhat area is a few meters above sea level, its vulnerability to seawater intrusion and changed salinity is very high. Moreover, a significant number of sensitive habitats and natural areas along the UAE shoreline would be threatened by rising sea levels. For instance, Ksiksi et al.
(2012) study summarized the total areas of mangrove forests that are located on the shoreline of the emirate of Abu Dhabi and probably would be inundated as an impact of sea-level rise. 0.5 m sea level scenario shows about 1.67 Km2 will be impacted.
Meanwhile, the 3 m sea level scenario will affect about 25.54 Km2 of the total area of mangrove forests (Hereher, 2020; Ksiksi et al., 2012).
El Raey (2010) in his research proposed the idea of conducting a vulnerability index which is very helpful for such natural phenomenon to also minimize the impacts of sea-level rise and direct resources to address the issue. It can help governments to preserve recourses and time by understanding sea-level rise for the short, mid, and long-term. Moreover, carrying out research on drought and salt-tolerant crops. Various long-term sustainable environmental policies have been launched to keep urban air quality, implement strict regulatory regimes on industrial and other construction practices, and sustainably manage scarce water supplies (El Raey, 2010).
Meanwhile, Melville-Rea et al. (2021) on their recent study that sets out a possible roadmap for the UAE to use its capabilities to generate appropriate sea - level predictions for the area, which includes a number of coastal cities that are equally vulnerable to increasing sea levels. The study resulted in that despite its vulnerability to floods as a result of rising sea levels, the UAE is ideally positioned to lead technological development in climate adaptation due to its long-term policy perspective, financial capacity, and ambition for a sustainable knowledge-based economy, overcoming the Arabian Gulf's data gap for ocean, land, and atmospheric observations is the single most essential step in producing reliable flood forecasts, and by establishing an Antarctic research program, the UAE would be the first in the area to address the fundamental uncertainties that are driving global sea level rise (Melville-Rea et al., 2021).