The city of Dubai is not, to put it mildly, known for its ecotourism.
Excess? Yes: Just go to the multi-block-long gold market, shimmering with bracelets, necklaces, rings, watches, cuff links, tie tacs, and money clips.
Extremes? Try skiing indoors or sand-surfing on dunes.
Superlatives? How about the Burj Khalifa (the world's tallest building), the Mall of Dubai (the world's largest shopping mall), or the World Islands (a complex of man-made islands that looks like a map of the world when seen from the air)?
Not to mention the Burj Al Arab, the city's flagship seven-star luxury hotel -- which, with its world-class aquarium and staff of marine specialist, including scientists and veterinarians, happens to serve as one of the headquarters for Al Jumeriah's sea turtle rescue program.
Dubai Turtle Rehabilitation Project
Founded in 2004, the Dubai Turtle Rehabilitation Project (DTRP) is based at the Burj Al Arab and the Madinat Jumeirah and run in conjunction with Dubai’s Wildlife Protection Office. So far, the program has rescued, rehabilitated, and released more than 500 sea turtles back into Dubai’s waters. In 2011, more than 350 sick or injured sea turtles were been treated by the DTRP’s team of marine biologists.
The program includes participation of hotel guests and locals: For example, in June, 2011, in recognition of World Sea Turtle Day, the program invited 101 children including hotel guests and local schoolchildren to release 101 hawksbill turtles into the Arabian Gulf. The turtles had gone several months of care after being washed up onto Dubai's beaches, some suffering from blood parasites that cause them to be covered with barnacles. The turtles are fitted with microchips and DNA samples are taken; so far, none of the released turtles have had to be re-rescued.
Hawksbill turtles are severely endangered; According to the Dubai Wildlife Protection office, their numbers have dropped some 87 percent in the last three decades.
The decline in the hawksbill population is thought to be caused by lack of (and shrinking) habitat. Elsewhere in Dubai, steps have been taken to protect critical nesting areas. For example, the Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC) -- the developer of Saadiyat island -- has implemented a dune protection which has identified more than 400 nesting areas. The program includes dune protection, guidelines for construction during nesting season, lighting restrictions (because hatchlings are disoriented by artificial light when they make their way to the sea), and monitoring.
Dubai has, in the last 50 years, experienced a stratospheric growth that has made it one of the world's architectural showcases. But among the man-made wonders of artificial islands, indoor skiing, and the world's tallest building, the Burj al Arab -- by some measures, the world's most luxurious hotel -- has made room for the tiny little hatchlings that have nested on these beaches for millennia.
Karen Berger - Karen Berger is the author of 15 books. Please click on her name to read her full bio.
