Concluding Remarks

by Dr. Omar Al Attas, RSZA-DES Head of Environmental Sustainability

All too often, coastal developments have come at the cost of a devastating impact on wildlife and natural habitats.

That doesn’t need to be the industry norm, as our work at Red Sea Global demonstrates.

This report is just one of many initiatives that we’ve undertaken to provide a deeply researched, scienceled basis for our work as an environmentally trailblazing developer. All of these initiatives equip us with clear and quantifiable metrics to measure our progress against our core principles of regenerative tourism and responsible development. By placing people and planet at the forefront of everything we do, we can ensure that our stewardship of the region leaves the natural environment in a better state than when we found it.

I’m immensely proud of the efforts my team has made to produce this valuable report. We went the extra mile and then some, conducting more than 150 surveys of coral reef fish and their habitats, counting some 25,000 bird nests and more than a thousand turtle-nesting tracks, and performing 250 surveys of seagrass and 150 surveys of mangrove habitats. We recorded the breeding success of seven species of birds, including Ospreys, Brown boobies, Redbilled tropicbirds, and regionally endangered Sooty falcons.

My team fanned out across more than 90 islands and along 250 kilometers of coastline, and we revisited many sites multiple times to account for migrations and seasonal breeding. We deploy leading-edge technologies wherever possible in our initiatives; for this report, we used machine learning to analyze imagery of coral reef habitats.

The work was painstaking, but critical to assessing the condition and trends of the environment at The Red Sea and Amaala. It ensured that my team members have the deep, personal familiarity and connection with our areas that they will need to make wise decisions about how to protect our rich and diverse habitats.

This report is the result of their efforts. It’s just one of many examples of how serious we are at Red Sea Global about grounding our work in science and finding innovative solutions to some of the world’s most urgent environmental challenges. Last year, we conducted the largest environmental baseline survey ever undertaken by a private property developer. This report extends that baseline to include Amaala while also revisiting The Red Sea area.

We always strive to protect and regenerate the outstanding natural beauty of the Red Sea region, and as we move forward and consider potential new developments, the information we gather for reports like this will underpin every decision we make. Only through this science-led regenerative approach can we achieve our ambition of setting higher standards in our industry – standards to improve and enhance the environment instead of simply exploiting it.

By committing to transparent and sustained reporting about our wildlife and natural habitats, we hold ourselves accountable even as we seek to inspire others.

References

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Symes, A., Taylor, J., Mallon, D., Porter, R., Simms, C., & Budd, K. (2017). The conservation status and distribution of the breeding birds of the Arabian peninsula. In International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature.

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Tanabe, L. K., Cochran, J. E. M., Williams, C. T., Garzon, F., Langner, U., Hardenstine, R. S., Hawkes, L. A., Brainard, R. E., Eweida, A. A., Marshall, P. A., & Berumen, M. L. (2023). Case report: tracking data from foraging Hawksbill turtles in the northern Red Sea. Animal Biotelemetry, 11(1), 1.

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