Dr Farouk El-Baz, the renowned scientist who played a key role in the Apollo Moon missions, has been engaged as an expert advisor for Blue Communities.

Blue Communities is the new sustainability initiative launched under the direction of UAE Vice-President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, on January 19, 2008.

Nakheel, one of the world’s largest privately held real estate developers, has committed Dh500 million over the next five years to Blue Communities to fund research and development activity and to promote active engagement with international experts on the issues of sustainable development, construction, management and governance of coastal communities around the globe.

Dr El-Baz is the first such expert to be engaged by the initiative.

Dr EL-Baz is one of the leading lights of the scientific community. Although he may be best known for his groundbreaking work with the US space programme, during the past two decades, he devoted his scientific talents to better understanding of climatic impact on environments – and particularly desert environments.

“It is my pleasure to be the first expert advisor to the Blue Communities, one of the visionary initiatives of Nakheel. It is extremely important to constantly seek solutions for sustainable developments, especially those along coastal environments. The Earth is called the Blue Planet for a very good reason, and the Blue Communities initiative endeavors to assure living in harmony with the sea,” said Dr El-Baz.

“Having a renowned scientist of the caliber of Dr Farouk El-Baz on board as an expert advisor for the Blue Communities is an added value to this initiative. This clearly shows Nakheel’s commitment to sustainable coastal developments for future generations,” said
managing director of Design & Development, Nakheel, Abdulrahman Kalantar. – TradeArabia News Service