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International Journal of Environment and Sustainability, 2016, 5(2): 30-44 35
Finally, Estidama is not concerned only with The city has many potential opportunities.
development proposals and designs. The pro- Looking at the economics of the emirate, one
gram delivered three rating stages: (1) design can easily tell that it does not have many
ratings to make sure that the proposed design sources of income. The emirate has very limited
complies with the previously mentioned design natural resources in terms of natural gas and
manuals, (2) construction ratings to ensure that oil. This is why it depends on Abu Dhabi to
the proposed building strategies addressed in supply it with its oil and gas needs. When it
the design report are being implemented comes to natural resources, like any other part
through the construction stage, and (3) opera- of the UAE, RAK does not have any fresh water
tional ratings to monitor a building while it resources, so it mainly uses the treated gulf
operates and make sure that it is operating as it water for domestic uses and bottled water for
was designed to. potable uses. This treatment process consumes
b. Ras Al Khaimah’s Status Brief energy and is very costly. Despite of all of this,
Ras Al Khaimah, which means “top of the tent” the emirate found other sources of income. Its
in Arabic, lies within the northernmost part of location on top of the UAE very close to the
the UAE and is located along the gulf very close Strait of Hurmoz makes it a very active port for
to the strait of Hurmoz about 65 km away from trading between the gulf countries and the
the Iranian coasts. It is the fourth largest world. The free zone area of RAK is one of the
emirate in the country, occupying a matter of fastest-growing free zones in the UAE. Develop-
area of 247 km2 with a population of 263,217 ment there is very rapid, and many industries
people, and it has a population growth rate of were established to cover the port's and the free
5.6% per year, according to the National Bureau zone's needs. Considering the tourism sector, as
of Statistics 2010. Its landscape is slightly mentioned before, RAK has a very long costal
different than any other emirate in the UAE, as line that lies along the gulf shores surrounded
it varies from coastlines and shores that lie by the Al Hajar Mountains, which makes it a
along the gulf’s rich waters to mountains and unique tourist location, attracting many invest-
hills presented by the Al Hajar mountains that ments in this field. In addition to its beautiful
reach heights of 1900 m above sea level to the nature, it has widespread deserts full of sand
widely spread desert and its sand dunes. The dunes and a very traditional Bedouin lifestyle
weather in RAK is slightly cooler than the rest of that could be used to attract tourists to the
the UAE, especially in winter times. emirate. Moreover, the emirate produces most
of the UAE's livestock, as this activity is
Figure 6: UAE map showing RAK’s location considered an important part of the UAE's
(RAKTDA, 2013) heritage.
The natural environment of RAK is very rich, yet
the infrastructure of the city is still very primi-
tive, which is the main threat to the unique
biodiversity the city has. The lack of clear
sustainable development in the city may cause
some major losses to the environment.
One of the most important aspects of RAK is its
social and cultural life. RAK still presents the
traditional Emirati life that locals used to live
years ago. Although the government is trying its
best to give the city a modern image by applying
new and modern building techniques, the locals
still prefer to live in their traditional houses and
stick to their traditional lifestyle. This aspect of
life is very critical, as it may result in a unique
and traditional developed city image or it may
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