Abu Dhabi is planning to build a national park with both green and sand belts in order to preserve the emirate’s ecological system over the next 23 years.
Outlined in the recently published urban structure framework ‘Plan Abu Dhabi 2030’, the government said it wants to ensure that as development in the emirate increases, important ecological resources such as mangroves and sea grass beds as well as migratory birds will be protected.
Abu Dhabi’s government says the best way to achieve this is through the establishment of a national park system running adjacent to the city, where development would be forbidden and all activity carefully regulated to ensure that all aspects of the emirate’s ecological identity are preserved.
With Abu Dhabi’s urban expansion in mind, the government has also created the notion of a ‘Green Gradient’, marking increasing echelons of development from the core of the national park to the urban core of the city.
The ‘Green Gradient’ would have five levels of increasing inhabitation, said the government, beginning with ‘Park Core Islands’, where development is strictly controlled, followed by ‘Park Edge Islands’, which permit a greater range of activities and structures to ‘City Buffer Islands’, ‘City Edge Islands’ and finally ‘Island Eco-Villages’.
Eco-villages, though small, would approach the same residential densities as the urban areas of Abu Dhabi city.
As part of the Plan’s ‘Environmental Framework’, the government also plans to have a sand belt surrounding the city, defining the limits of development and preventing an urban sprawl. Outside the sand belt, development would only be permitted in ‘Desert Eco-Villages’ along the axis to Al Ain.
Over concerns that development towards Dubai will create an endless sprawl, and cut the desert off from the water, the government has also proposed the notion of ‘Desert Fingers’ – undeveloped buffers between the city, each coastal town, and Dubai, giving wildlife access to the protected coastal areas.
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