How much you pay for a cup of the black stuff at a coffee shop might differ once VAT is applied in the UAE depending on whether the coffee shop is based inside or outside a free zone. Photo: EPA
How much you pay for a cup of the black stuff at a coffee shop might differ once VAT is applied in the UAE depending on whether the coffee shop is based inside or outside a free zone. Photo: EPA

You're looking at 140 litres of water



If your lunch today is a quarter-pound burger with cheese, a side plate of chips, a cup of coffee and an apple, would you consider washing that down with a 2,369-litre drink of water? That, according to scientists, is the staggering volume of fresh water needed to bring this simple midday meal to the table. And while consumers might have assuaged their enviro-guilt in the past by tallying their carbon footprints, they may not have considered the ecological stress that a burger bun, beef mince, slice of cheese, potato, coffee and piece of fruit can put on the planet's water resources.

Called a "water footprint", it is an emerging method by which eco-campaigners are measuring the world's total fresh water use in the face of shrinking resources. The UAE is already known as the world's third-largest water consumer per capita - the average resident's 550 litres a day for drinking and washing are more than triple the world average - but the invisible or "virtual water" used in the production of goods packs a bigger wallop, and has yet to be measured for the Emirates.

Take one kilogram of beef, which taps 16,000 litres of virtual water, for instance. That includes water to grow the grain feed, water for the cattle to drink, water to wash its stall, water to process the meat, even water for the ink on the price tag of the package in the chiller. "Comparing the volume to the size of the product, that's about 16,000 times more water than the weight of the beef itself," said Arjen Hoekstra, the University of Twente professor who created the water footprint.

"The amounts of water used for the production of goods and services are big amounts. In fact, it's scary." Speaking from The Netherlands, where he is scientific director of the Water Footprint Network, Prof Hoekstra said the idea to quantify water usage and export came out of his research in 2002 on the relationship between water resources management and trade. "Once you realise that water is a global resource and not - like many people think, a local resource - you realise that people do leave something like a water footprint, which is the amount of water that you use but not necessarily at home."

An apple might tap 70 litres of the planet's water, according to the Water Footprint Network. A cotton shirt maybe 2,500 litres. That morning cup of coffee as much as 140 litres, taking into account the water used to harvest, process and ship the beans. Calculating water footprints surprises many consumers. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in 2008 released a Living Planet Report, listing for the first time the water footprints of more than 100 countries. Data for the UAE was not available and is still not known, said Prof Hoekstra.

"Definitely, it will be beyond the global average, which is about 1,200 cubic metres per capita per year." (One cubic metre of water equals 1,000 litres of water). Sarfraz Dairkee, who heads the technical committee of the Emirates Green Building Council in Dubai, believes the UAE's water footprint may rank among the highest in the Middle East. The average Saudi soaks up about 1,263 cubic metres a year while the typical Qatari uses about 1,087 and the typical Omani about 1,606, according to the WWF.

"I think the UAE would be even higher because you can consider the lifestyle to be more water-intensive in comparison," Mr Dairkee said. Given the lack of rainfall, coffee-drinking culture and meat-eating habits of UAE residents, he expected the local water footprint to be deep and wide. "Coffee is a high-consumption item in this part of the world, one cup is a lot of water consumed to grow the beans, process them, clean your cups and bring everything to your table," he said. "You have to think about all of that."

The breakneck pace of infrastructure development is another consideration. The 828 metre Burj Khalifa in Dubai required 330,000 cubic metres of concrete and 39,000 tonnes of reinforced steel, both materials that need large volumes of water for processing. Even greater, Mr Dairkee said, is the amount of water needed to maintain cooling systems on a day-to-day basis in the country's towers. "The Burj Khalifa's operational water footprint is much higher than the virtual footprint because it's a continuous process," he said. "You have to work out how much water it will take to cool that building continuously."

Interestingly, household water use in general amounts to only "about two or at most five per cent" of the total water footprint. Irrigation is the major use of water worldwide. Irrigation in the agriculture sector accounts for 60 per cent of the UAE's water consumption, according to Dr Mohammed Dawood, the manager of the water resources department at the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi. "One issue here is we are relying on unconventional water resources, which actually are very expensive and need a lot of energy to treat Gulf water to become potable," Dr Dawood said.

The UAE's dependence on desalination plants also presents an "interesting case", Prof Hoekstrom said. The process of obtaining drinking water from brackish water might at first appear to be a solution to the problem of fresh water scarcity. "People sometimes tell me, in the end, isn't all the world's water problems really an energy problem? Because you can just desalinate salt from freshwater." But swapping a scarce resource for a shrinking one is no solution, Prof Hoekstra argued.

"That's really energy-intensive, so in fact using desalination has a very large carbon footprint." With the growing trend of "eco-chic" carbon-footprint product labels making their way into stores, he predicted that water-footprint labels could be next. He stopped short of promoting the idea, however, acknowledging that such labels were sometimes just marketing gimmicks. "What I think is important is product transparency and not labelling," he said. "Labelling can be one way of achieving product transparency, but it may not be suitable in many cases."

Still, businesses have taken notice. Levi Strauss & Co, known for making the Levis brand of jeans, began auditing its water footprint in 2008 and found that the life cycle of a medium-sized pair of stonewashed Levis 501 jeans - from growing the cotton to milling it into denim to multiple washes of the trousers - can consume as much as 3,480 litres. That is roughly equivalent to taking 53 showers or flushing a toilet 575 times, said John Anderson, the Levis chief executive.

All this is not a cue to shun blue jeans, meat and coffee, even though a vegetarian diet would use roughly a thirtieth of the water required to put meat on another consumer's plate. "It's very difficult to give that message of not eating meat, not buying cotton, not drinking coffee," Prof Hoekstra said. "What's more important is product transparency because one cotton is not the other cotton; one beef is not the other beef. We can choose to buy the better cotton or the better beef if we know the difference and have better information."

For more information on how to calculate your water footprint, go to www.waterfootprint.org. mkwong@thenational.ae

Results

International 4, United States 1

Justin Thomas and Tiger Woods (US) beat Marc Leishman and Joaquin Niemann (International) 4 and 3.

Adam Hadwin and Sungjae Im (International) beat Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay (US) 2 up.

Adam Scott and Byeong Hun An (International) beat Bryson DeChambeau and Tony Finau (US) 2 and 1.

Hideki Matsuyama and C.T. Pan (International) beat Webb Simpson and Patrick Reed (US) 1 up.

Abraham Ancer and Louis Oosthuizen (International) beat Dustin Johnson and Gary Woodland (US) 4 and 3.

The specs

Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel

Power: 579hp

Torque: 859Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh825,900

On sale: Now

Anxiety and work stress major factors

Anxiety, work stress and social isolation are all factors in the recogised rise in mental health problems.

A study UAE Ministry of Health researchers published in the summer also cited struggles with weight and illnesses as major contributors.

Its authors analysed a dozen separate UAE studies between 2007 and 2017. Prevalence was often higher in university students, women and in people on low incomes.

One showed 28 per cent of female students at a Dubai university reported symptoms linked to depression. Another in Al Ain found 22.2 per cent of students had depressive symptoms - five times the global average.

It said the country has made strides to address mental health problems but said: “Our review highlights the overall prevalence of depressive symptoms and depression, which may long have been overlooked."

Prof Samir Al Adawi, of the department of behavioural medicine at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman, who was not involved in the study but is a recognised expert in the Gulf, said how mental health is discussed varies significantly between cultures and nationalities.

“The problem we have in the Gulf is the cross-cultural differences and how people articulate emotional distress," said Prof Al Adawi. 

“Someone will say that I have physical complaints rather than emotional complaints. This is the major problem with any discussion around depression."

Daniel Bardsley

2018 ICC World Twenty20 Asian Western Regional Qualifier

Saturday results
Qatar beat Kuwait by 26 runs
Bahrain beat Maldives by six wickets
UAE beat Saudi Arabia by seven wickets

Monday fixtures
Maldives v Qatar
Saudi Arabia v Kuwait
Bahrain v UAE

* The top three teams progress to the Asia Qualifier

The Sand Castle

Director: Matty Brown

Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea

Rating: 2.5/5

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PSL FINAL

Multan Sultans v Peshawar Zalmi
8pm, Thursday
Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Other workplace saving schemes
  • The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
  • Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
  • National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
  • In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
  • Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
How to avoid crypto fraud
  • Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
  • Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
  • Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
  • Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
  • Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
  • Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
  • Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAlmouneer%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202017%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dr%20Noha%20Khater%20and%20Rania%20Kadry%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EEgypt%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E120%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EBootstrapped%2C%20with%20support%20from%20Insead%20and%20Egyptian%20government%2C%20seed%20round%20of%20%3Cbr%3E%243.6%20million%20led%20by%20Global%20Ventures%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
German intelligence warnings
  • 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
  • 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
  • 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250 

Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution

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10 tips for entry-level job seekers
  • Have an up-to-date, professional LinkedIn profile. If you don’t have a LinkedIn account, set one up today. Avoid poor-quality profile pictures with distracting backgrounds. Include a professional summary and begin to grow your network.
  • Keep track of the job trends in your sector through the news. Apply for job alerts at your dream organisations and the types of jobs you want – LinkedIn uses AI to share similar relevant jobs based on your selections.
  • Double check that you’ve highlighted relevant skills on your resume and LinkedIn profile.
  • For most entry-level jobs, your resume will first be filtered by an applicant tracking system for keywords. Look closely at the description of the job you are applying for and mirror the language as much as possible (while being honest and accurate about your skills and experience).
  • Keep your CV professional and in a simple format – make sure you tailor your cover letter and application to the company and role.
  • Go online and look for details on job specifications for your target position. Make a list of skills required and set yourself some learning goals to tick off all the necessary skills one by one.
  • Don’t be afraid to reach outside your immediate friends and family to other acquaintances and let them know you are looking for new opportunities.
  • Make sure you’ve set your LinkedIn profile to signal that you are “open to opportunities”. Also be sure to use LinkedIn to search for people who are still actively hiring by searching for those that have the headline “I’m hiring” or “We’re hiring” in their profile.
  • Prepare for online interviews using mock interview tools. Even before landing interviews, it can be useful to start practising.
  • Be professional and patient. Always be professional with whoever you are interacting with throughout your search process, this will be remembered. You need to be patient, dedicated and not give up on your search. Candidates need to make sure they are following up appropriately for roles they have applied.

Arda Atalay, head of Mena private sector at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Rudy Bier, managing partner of Kinetic Business Solutions and Ben Kinerman Daltrey, co-founder of KinFitz

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

Best Academy: Ajax and Benfica

Best Agent: Jorge Mendes

Best Club : Liverpool   

 Best Coach: Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)  

 Best Goalkeeper: Alisson Becker

 Best Men’s Player: Cristiano Ronaldo

 Best Partnership of the Year Award by SportBusiness: Manchester City and SAP

 Best Referee: Stephanie Frappart

Best Revelation Player: Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid and Portugal)

Best Sporting Director: Andrea Berta (Atletico Madrid)

Best Women's Player:  Lucy Bronze

Best Young Arab Player: Achraf Hakimi

 Kooora – Best Arab Club: Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia)

 Kooora – Best Arab Player: Abderrazak Hamdallah (Al-Nassr FC, Saudi Arabia)

 Player Career Award: Miralem Pjanic and Ryan Giggs

If you go

The Flights

Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Johannesburg from Dubai and Abu Dhabi respectively. Economy return tickets cost from Dh2,650, including taxes.

The trip

Worldwide Motorhoming Holidays (worldwidemotorhomingholidays.co.uk) operates fly-drive motorhome holidays in eight destinations, including South Africa. Its 14-day Kruger and the Battlefields itinerary starts from Dh17,500, including campgrounds, excursions, unit hire and flights. Bobo Campers has a range of RVs for hire, including the 4-berth Discoverer 4 from Dh600 per day.

Dubai Bling season three

Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed 

Rating: 1/5