Environment

Dubai Police do their bit to promote marine life

One project involved sinking old army tanks in the ocean to serve as an artificial environment for sea creatures, while another saw new coral seeds planted.

Dana Moukhallati

March 05, 2014

DUBAI // Dubai Police have launched two projects to encourage marine life and promote the growth of coral reefs.

The first project saw 15 old army tanks sunk in the ocean, where they will serve as an artificial environment for fish and other sea creatures.

The second involved planting coral seeds in cooperation with Nakheel, Dubai Municipality, and the ministries of Interior and Environment and Water.

“Instead of dismantling the tanks and selling the parts as scrap, we decided to adopt one of our officer’s initiatives to put them in the ocean to serve as an artificial environment to marine life,” said Maj Gen Ahmad Thani, assistant director of ports affairs.

“Of course, this is after taking all the proper environmental procedures of getting rid of everything in and on the tank that may harm marine life, such as plastic pipes and oils.”

Gen Thani said up to 700 seeds of coral had been planted and he hoped the number to increase, in cooperation with environment departments.

Capt Obaid Al Shamsi, head of property at the police general department of services and supplies, came up with both initiatives.

“We looked at what other countries, such as the US and Australia, would do with their old tanks and they use them to promote marine life,” Capt Al Shamsi said.

“I thought this would be a good idea, and I pitched it to the relevant authorities and it was approved.”

As for planting coral, Capt Al Shamsi said scuba divers had reported a decrease in coral reefs along the shores.

“We thought we should do something about it,” he said. “We have the capabilities and we have scuba divers. Why not plant them ourselves?”

Capt Al Shamsi said the plan was to take the planted coral to a nursery on Deira Island.

Dubai Police has officially handed the projects to a marine environment protection agency.

dmoukhallati@thenational.ae

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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