Citation: Afzal, M.S.; Tahir, F.; Al-Ghamdi, S.G. Recommendations and Strategies to Mitigate Environmental Implications of Artificial Island Developments in the Gulf. Sustainability 2022, 14, 5027. https://doi.org/10.3390/ su14095027 Received: 20 February 2022 Accepted: 15 April 2022 Published: 22 April 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). sustainability Review Recommendations and Strategies to Mitigate Environmental Implications of Artificial Island Developments in the Gulf Muhammad Salman Afzal, Furqan Tahir and Sami G. Al-Ghamdi * Division of Sustainable Development, College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar Foundation, Doha P.O. Box 5825, Qatar; muaf33745@hbku.edu.qa (M.S.A.); futahir@hbku.edu.qa (F.T.) * Correspondence: salghamdi@hbku.edu.qa; Tel.: +974-4454-2833 Abstract: Artificial island development (AID) to tackle rampant urbanization on scarce land puts all marine biodiversity at huge risk and is recognized as a global conservation issue worldwide. This study critically reviews the gaps that undermined biodiversity and ecology during construction activi- ties of the artificial islands in the Gulf region that could be alleviated if apposite environmental values and sustainable strategies of different regions of the world had paid enough heed to economic and social aspects. The method used for this study was an analytical descriptive literature survey, and the resources were chosen after three phases of quality assessment. This survey found various barricades to sustainable AID, such as lack of scientific data, adequate site selection, ineffective environmental evaluations, noncompliance with legislation, and economic gains over the environmental aspects. It was concluded that to protect the marine ecosystem from inevitable degradation, strict compliance with international and national legislation, research and baseline data collection, strengthening of the existing environmental assessment, continuous capacity building, and modern practices of different countries should be brought to the forefront. Furthermore, this study aims to provide guidance to policymakers and governmental organizations to mitigate emerging environmental issues during AID through strategic decision-making processes. Keywords: artificial island development; environmental implications; land reclamation; marine ecology; mitigation strategies; sustainable development 1. Introduction 1.1. Gulf Artificial Island Developments (AID) Rapid economic development and social prosperity has played a noteworthy role in transforming the Gulf from an insignificant desert to ultra-modern nations with con- tinuously growing coastal cities [1]. However, due to rapid population expansion and urbanization, as well as increased energy and water needs, this places a great strain on land resources, which are constantly at the point of depletion [2–6]. Authorities find it chal- lenging to develop infrastructure on scarce land to accommodate the growing population. To alleviate the problem, marine resources have attracted considerable attention. Hence, Gulf countries are developing artificial islands, as shown in Table 1, in the surrounding Gulf waters to tackle the swift urbanization and population challenges followed by other industrial, commercial, economic, and strategic benefits [7,8]. The Kingdom of Bahrain is a prominent example of an archipelago, an extensive network of islands [9], having a commercial zone offshore or within the sea to cope with land-scarcity issues [10]. Unlike natural islands, an artificial island is basically a manmade formation that has been constructed by humans over water bodies rather than formed through natural processes. They are constructed by different methods such as land reclamation, extending existing islets, rocks, or coral reefs, or linking small groups of islets into one bigger island using different construction materials [11]. The phenomena behind the construction of artificial islands are to support people, economy, energy needs, defense infrastructure, and Sustainability 2022, 14, 5027. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14095027 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability