Sixteenth International Conference on Climate Change: Impacts & Responses

Abstract

The purpose of the current project is to assess the long-term sustainability of the artificial islands in UAE against the climate change impact. The project combines two separate fields of research, which are as follows: Economy/Tourism and Engineering/Geology. Experts from two different departments in SUAD will contribute to the assessment of investing in artificial islands construction for touristic purpose and other operational use, with taking into consideration the climate change impact. The way forward of the impact assessment can be built on the following four factors: · Economic/Operational (EO) to qualitatively identify the economic consequences of climate change, both temporary and permanent, as well as the complexities of touristic and other types of investment within the context of the artificial island construction. · Physical and Environmental which takes into consideration the assessment of the two main interference factors from climate change on the marine environment, which are the sea level rise and the excess in carbon dioxide concentrations in seawater. The multidisciplinary analysis enables a “360-degree” identification of impact factors for the artificial island investment in UAE, being one of the leader developers in the world of this technology. In addition, conclude recommendations matrix based on the climate change challenging factors.