Limited Resources in the UAE

Bearing that in mind, for the previous three to five decades exploitation of natural resources, most notably, oil and gas in United Arab Emirates has been tremendous. As a consequence, immense pressure has been exerted on the natural resources within the emirates vicinity leading to diverse environmental problems which have emerged due to the rapid exploitation of these resources, escalating demand of energy, and the rapid population witnessed in this region. Furthermore, further desertification of the land has been attributed to the rampant exploitation of these natural resource. Water scarcity, rising aridity and drought has also been prevalent within the emirates due to the rising temperatures brought about by global warming ( Bey 115). This paper will explore the occurrence of limited resources in the United Arab Emirates and the strategic intervention that the UAE is taking in the process of utilizing these limited resources.

The first counter strategy adopted by the UAE to combat the limited water resource is the adoption of high-tech technologies such as: The desalination of sea water from the Persian Gulf to complement the groundwater mostly used. Desalination of sea water refers to the process of eliminating salt from sea water in order to make it safe for drinking as well as for agriculture. The first desalination plant was built in the mid-1960s by Weir Westgarth, since then UAE has highly relied on this technology. For instance, as of 2014, information from the Environment Statistics center in Abu Dhabi indicated that it elevated water consumption from 670 million cubic meters as of 2005 and subsequently into 1. 128 billion cubic meters as of 2014. To counter this predicament, UAE has attempted to formulate and implement agricultural policies, embracing innovative agricultural technology and employing efficient water utilization.

Nonetheless, domestic food production accounts for approximately only one percent of the overall Gross Domestic Product, since the land readily available for agriculture is limited compelling the government to import grocery from the international market. For example, the overall imports in the United Arab Emirates in 2016 was estimated to be $35. 7 billion, making UAE to be among the largest overall importer of agricultural staple food globally. The staple food import ranges from sugar, rice, wheat. Moreover, disposal of waste after extraction has also affected the environment negatively, on the grounds that the waste disposal affects the productivity of the land forcing wildlife to shift (Goldsmith, Mezher and Choucri 81). Apart from that, clean air which is a key natural resource to the citizens and the visiting tourist within the United Arab Emirates circumference is becoming more and more limited.

This is because UAE is considered to be a petroleum producing country, therefore, oil companies have contributed substantially in the production of excess carbon dioxide to the surrounding, consequently polluting the air. In fact, United Arab Emirates was ranked as position 29 internationally on the scale of carbon dioxide emission. For instance, between 1990 and 2009 the volume of carbon emission escalated from approximately 61. Third, wildlife habitat is also becoming limited within the emirates vicinity because of rapid human population who are invading the wildlife habitat. Pollution of the environment has also led to the displacement of some wild animals, and in some instances death of some animals because of eating polluted plants. Finally, clean air is also becoming a limited natural resource in the UAE because of the rampant air pollution from the oil companies in the process of the combustion of the oil.