The project, which includes a cluster of isles taking the shape of a world map, are part of Dubai's rush to become a regional business and tourism powerhouse.

Included are lavish plans for homes built on stilts, marinas, shopping malls, water theme parks, sports facilities, health spas, cinemas, boardwalks, a monorail and a number of dive sites.

With the focus on luxury and leisure, the glitterati are lining up according to Nakheel, which boasts that British footballers David Beckham and Michael Owen as well as Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan have invested in the project.

Interest, it says, has also been been shown by the likes of pop star Michael Jackson, racing driver Michael Schumacher, actors Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington and model Naomi Campbell.

But with millions of cubic metres (feet) of rock and sand being either quarried from the UAE or dredged from the bottom of the Gulf to create the islands, environmentalists are less than enthused.

Wildlife protection groups caution that the heavy dredging could damage marine habitats while other experts warn of increased pollution and strains on the local environment when humans begin flocking to the resorts.

Cyclone Gonu, which tore through neighbouring Oman early this month killing 49 people and washing the east coast of the UAE with high waves, has raised concerns about the vulnerability of coastal areas to natural disasters.

"Most countries now agree that climate change is an existing man-made problem. I do hope this was taken into account when designing these projects," said Ibrahim al-Zubi, an environmental volunteer at the Emirates Diving Association (EDA).

EDA is a UN-accredited body that aims to promote the sustainable development of the Gulf state's marine resources.

Zubi said the thousands of people moving on to the islands would put greater strain on the UAE's water and power resources as well as creating more pollution and domestic waste.

The UAE, of which Dubai is one of its seven member states, already has the world's biggest ecological footprint, according to a 2004 report by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) that measures the environmental sustainability of a state.

"The transition between a traditional economy based on subsistence fisheries, oasis agriculture and livestock to a modern, highly urbanised country in less than 30 years is affecting the environment," WWF warned.

"Several coastal areas of regional importance are being threatened by tourism development."

But Nakheel says it has gone to great lengths to ensure sustainability and to minimise ecological damage.

"The engineering and the thought that has been put into these projects is pioneering globally and there is an underlying objective of setting new standards in environmental performance," Shaun Lenehan, the head of Nakheel's in-house environmental department, told AFP.

Lenehan said consumed water which will be derived from the Palm Jumeirah's two desalination plants would be treated before being pumped back for irrigation and air conditioning.

Furthermore, Lenehan said Nakheel will only hire waste management firms that have a recycling policy and the island will have an integrated transport system including a metro line.

Far from damaging marine habitats, he said, the projects have in fact attracted new marine life.

"Twelve species of coral and up to 50 types of fish are now living in and around the rocky breakwater of Palm Jumeirah. These have in turn attracted sharks, squid and barracuda," Lenehan said.

Ibrahim Bashir, a Kenyan who has been diving off Dubai's coast for the past three years, said he has witnessed a drop in water quality due to silt from construction.

"We usually dive about 10 kilometres (six miles) out to sea to view shipwrecks," he said. "It was once very clear, with visibility of up to 10 metres. But now you sometimes can't even see the tip of your hand."

But he agreed there had been some positive developments, such as the recent appearance in the area of sharks, dolphins and some types of stingrays and jelly fish, which could have been drawn by the new ecosystems created by the projects.

"In the short term, things aren't great. But in the long term, I think it will be okay," he said.

Lenehan dismissed local media reports that tropical storms such as Gonu and rising sea levels due to global warming might pose a serious threat to the islands, which are being built in the relatively calm Gulf waters.

"They were designed to withstand a one-in-100 year storm with 4.5-metre high (15 foot) waves," he said, adding the islands were built at a height above a conservative projection of 0.6 metres (23 inches) for a rise in sea levels over the next century.

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