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International Journal of Environment and Sustainability, 2016, 5(2): 30-44 37
Energy is the core of any development plan, as it generated goes to residential dwellings, 11% to
is the one and only engine to make strategies industrial use, 31% for commercial activities,
and practices feasible for implementation. and the last 29% goes to other uses. These other
Generally, energy around the world is generated uses include educational, health, and recre-
either through renewable or non-renewable ational activities and public services. A huge
sources. Up to present day, the main energy hidden energy consumer is the construction
producer has been the non-renewable sources process. Any development plan that will take
coal, oil, and natural gas. Although global place will be integrated with wide construction
awareness has started to rise lately, there has practices that will happen in the emirate in
also been a rapid increase in the demand for order to bring the proposed plan to life. The
coal, oil, and natural gas, which must be construction process consumes huge amounts
monitored. The UAE, as one of the world’s fossil of energy generated by fossil fuels only, as it is
fuel producers, is thought to be safe from any not so feasible to use renewable sources in
shortage that may occur to these natural energy construction sites.
resources. Despite this, the leadership is
encouraging the uses of renewable resources Loss of Biodiversity
available in the region like solar and wind
power through very strong strategies and Despite the huge shortage in natural resources
regulations. that RAK suffers from, it has a unique ecosystem
characterized by coastal systems due to its
Figure 8: Energy consumers in the UAE location along the shores of the Arabian Gulf. It
(MOENR, 2015) is surrounded on the north by the Al Hajar
Mountains, and it has widespread deserts and
However, the available fossil fuel sources in the sand dunes. It is critical that this diversity in the
UAE are located mainly in Abu Dhabi. A few ecosystems be conserved and protected, as they
more can be found in Dubai and some spots in should be treated differently. Existing unplan-
the northern emirates. On a city scale, RAK does ned developments do not have any ecosystem
not have any of the energy resources that the conservation plans or strategies, and this may
UAE has as a country, so it depends mainly on cause a loss of biodiversity in the emirate. It
the emirate of Abu Dhabi to supply it with the may be a very slow process, yet it is happening.
required demands. The UAE state of energy Major tourist developments on the shores,
report 2015 stated that 29% of the energy residential dwellings, and industrial activities
near the mountains or in the desert have great
impacts on the surrounding environment. These
impacts may be minor in the short term, but in a
long-term study, huge losses in the environ-
smental systems can be monitored.
The Primitive Infrastructure
Development strategies in RAK are very recent.
Years ago, the emirate infrastructure systems
were very primitive. New governments deve-
loped those systems to cope with the city’s
demands, but the infrastructure systems are
still too primitive to adapt to rapid development
and population growth. The urban infra-
structure term here is very broad and includes
utilities and road networks, educational insti-
tutions, health care facilities, and even recre-
ational spaces and public open areas. RAK lacks
a comprehensive infrastructure system that
addresses the population’s demands. Moreover,
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