7 Days
Dubai, Apr 28: A Nobel prize-winning scientist has warned that the threat of rising sea levels could have a potentially devastating impact on low-lying areas in the Gulf - including reclaimed land such as the Palm Trilogy and The World.
Dr Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore last year, said there was an urgent need for new coastal zoning laws before it was too late. “There is enough reason to be concerned about sea rise, especially in those areas which are low lying or in reclaimed areas that are not very high above the sea level. They are in the danger of subsidence,” he said. “So I would say they need very strict zoning laws and also real estate building laws to ensure that the structure exist. Even a sea level rise of half-a-metre can be very serious in the next 50 to 60 years.”
However, property developer Nakheel, which is developing a number of projects using reclaimed land including The Palm Jebel Ali, The Palm Deira and The World, claimed that its research showed these offshore projects were well managed and in no danger. It said in a statement that the consensus of scientific opinion around the world points to a very gradual sea level rise over the coming centuries, adding “the time frames are long and the opportunity for management, adaptation and response will extend across generations of human existence”.
It said that, based on scientific evidence, sea levels were predicted to rise by a maximum of half-a-metre over the next 100 years. “Nakheel has factored this into the final design levels of our reclamation projects. We have also factored in king tides, storm surge, high seas (big waves),” the statement added.
Nakheel has previously sought to ally fears about the future of its projects, after Sir Richard Branson last year said: “Over the next 50 years we will see the Palm projects and the World flooded by water and disappear if the issue of climate change is not addressed by global governments.”
At the time, Nakheel’s head of environment, Shaun Lenehan, said: “I back his sentiment that the world needs to respond to climate change and his heart is in the right place but to clarify, he got it completely wrong.”