More beaches hope to fly the Blue Flag in UAE

This year, the UAE is aiming to almost double the number of its beaches and marinas that have won the Blue Flag, a voluntary eco-label certifying they are safe and healthy.

Currently 18 beaches and six marinas in the UAE have the Blue Flag certification out of 83 private beaches, 33 public beaches and 24 marinas.

It aims to add another 20 beaches and marinas after a review process in August.

“(It) would be our ultimate aim to see all UAE beaches flying the blue flag,” said Moaz Sawaf, conservation and education project manager at Emirates Wildlife Society-WWF, the organisation representing the Copenhagen-based NGO Foundation for Environmental Education that owns and runs the Blue Flag Programme.

“We are now in the third year of the project (and) it’s been very widely accepted,” Sawaf added. “We’ve had huge support by the municipalities. They’re working on turning all their public beaches to Blue Flag.”

There are 32 criteria to achieve the Blue Flag certification. These are predominantly built on four pillars: Environmental education, water quality, environmental management, and health and safety.

“The Blue Flag label basically shows the commitment of the beach to health, safety and the environment,” Sawaf said. “This is about the water quality — clean bathrooms, waste bins, rubbish segregation, lifeguards, first aid, all of those should be in place.”

Also, each year the beach has to hold five environmental management activities, either for the public, schools, or a group of people.

The water quality is tested on a monthly basis. If it does not meet international standards, the beach is closed until the problem is rectified. Sawaf said this happened to the Abu Dhabi Corniche Beach in 2011 when it was shut for several days over oil pollution concerns.

Most of the 18 Blue Flag beaches are in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, where the municipalities got on board enthusiastically. This year, beaches from Fujairah, Sharjah and Ajman are also hoping to make their mark.

The campaign is a good fit with the direction the UAE is following, as its goals are sustainability, environmentalism and a green economy, Sawaf said.

The UAE is probably one of the fastest adopting countries right now. “It’s among the top five in the Blue Flag,” he said.

The Emirates Wildlife Society-WWF is receiving applications for new beaches and marinas for the international application review which will take place at the Blue Flag headquarters in August.

amanda@khaleejtimes.com