The Sustainable City of Dubai invites its residents to participate in monitoring biodiversity and measuring its impact

The Sustainable City in Dubai launched a residential complex-wide biodiversity assessment program with the aim of promoting concepts of sustainable living. It also deployed monitoring equipment dedicated to measuring the impact of the urban environment on biodiversity and the health of the ecosystem.

The Sustainable City became the first residential complex in the region to monitor and measure the health of its ecosystem by using advanced monitoring equipment that includes ultrasound recorders for bats and voice recorders for birds. This initiative comes within the framework of a strategic partnership between The Sustainable City and the Emirates Nature Society in cooperation with the World Wide Fund for Nature.

Eng. Faris Saeed, CEO of Diamond Developers, a leading company in the field of developing sustainable complexes in the UAE, said: “We seek to provide unique spaces that guarantee everyone coexistence in harmony with their natural environment and to test new methods that enhance the prosperity and sustainability of nature in the future. Our efforts have always been focused on reducing carbon emissions and preserving Natural resources in addition to collecting data, supporting research and testing new technologies through the company’s research and development arm, “the SEE Institute”. Through this initiative, we aspire to deepen our understanding of the behaviors of local species and their positive impact on the environment. “

The Sustainable City project will focus on activating the participation of residents in scientific research efforts through the use of the iNaturalist and eBird platforms, which allow residents to upload images of different species such as birds and plants that are seen in neighborhoods and other green spaces within the community, and the two platforms also help residents to record, classify and identify bird and plant sightings. They are downloaded by the Emirates Nature Society staff in cooperation with the WWF and the global community of scientists and natural experts who scrutinize the notes that science enthusiasts add from the population.

This will contribute to encouraging residents of the sustainable city to discover and document biodiversity within their places of living and help real estate development companies understand the impact of complexes on the natural environment and the measures that can be taken to enhance biodiversity and support the health of the ecosystem. The SEE Institute, the development and research arm of Diamond Developers, will publish the results. Biodiversity and the development of special guidelines to support the possibility of achieving the company’s goals and the design of cities and residential complexes in the region in the future. This information will provide a list of the types present in the sustainable city in addition to vital indicators that can be monitored in the long term to establish a correct basis for similar initiatives in the urban environment.