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"A legacy developers hope will put Dubai on the map as the world's premier tourism destination, but legacies can be a mixed blessing.

RAZAN AL MUBARAK: Unfortunately, the fast-pace development has not come at zero environmental costs.

Razan Al Mubarak directs the environmental group Emirates Wildlife Society.

AL MUBARAK: With the development was a lot of habitat loss. With development that are energy-hungry, there's been a increase in energy use. With this type of development, in a water-hungry part of the world, there's been an excess usage of water.

Thanks to oil, Dubai and its neighbor, Abu Dhabi, are the two richest states in the United Arab Emirates. They also have the biggest ecological footprint, according to the World Wildlife Fund. People who live here consume more stuff and generate more trash than anywhere else on the planet. Even the United States comes in second. Water and power utilities are having a hard time keeping up. Khaled Awad heads the property development arm of the government-owned Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company.

KHALED AWAD: There is a trend here for developments to consider that utilities are ready for them. Whenever they come up they provide them with electricity and water, as much as they want, and if you think of it, not only from environmental responsibility, from a basic sustainability point of view and from a general sense of growth point of view, this is not possible." (Thanks D.)