Dubai developers reach a new zenith in outrageous investment with just-announced plans to build a tropical rainforest on the desert outskirts of the city. The forest will exist within a climate-controlled dome as a key feature of a new luxury housing development. But the real news within this news is that local environmentalists are complaining, finally.

 

The Dubai Rainforest will sit within Damac Properties’ Akoya Oxygen master community. It aspires to replicate a natural rainforest environment fully enclosed inside a massive dome to withstand the surrounding desert climate.

 

Visitors to the site will begin their tour by exploring ground level gardens, then climb progressively higher into the treetop canopy, all the while learning about the habitat’s flora and fauna. Billed as an educational and cultural experience, the forest will feature zip lines and walkways through the canopy, a climbing wall and a spa which will offer hydro-thermal treatments among rock pools and steam baths.

 

“To create an artificial forest in such harsh conditions, they are challenging nature,” Dr. Ali El-Keblawy, associate professor at the University of Sharjah and director of the Sharjah Seed Bank and Herbarium, said. He added that the project’s expected high water footprint is unsustainable in a desert climate.

 

Unlike desert shrubs and trees, which use various strategies to survive on small amounts of water, plants that thrive in rainforests need high amounts of moisture. El-Kablawy pointed out that containing the artificial rainforest within a sealed dome and creating a closed system will help reduce water loss through evaporation.

 

The rainforest will open ahead of World Expo, which Dubai will host in 2020 and has pledged will be a “monument to the green economy”.

 

Local environmentalists are finally speaking out, saying that projects like the rainforest will hinder government efforts to control the city-state’s rapidly increasing water and energy ¬consumption. The United Arab Emirates has the highest level of water consumption per capita on earth.