The World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), the world's largest independent initiative for environmental protection, said here on Thursday it has awarded the Gulf Arab emirate of Abu Dhabi Blue Flags for keeping up with globally recognized standards in environmental protection of eight beaches.

The newly awarded sites in Abu Dhabi are Al Bateen Marina, the Club beach, Sadiyat Island, the Lagoon beach, the corniche beach ( phase two), the beaches at the Abu Dhabi Hilton hotel, the Le Meridien beach and the desert beaches on Sir Bani Yas island.

"The Blue Flag is a highly prestigious and well-recognised symbol, and serves to highlight coastal excellence internationally, " said Lisa Perry, program director at the EWS-WWF.

Criteria for a Blue Flag award are seawater quality, regular cleaning of beaches by local authorities, a sufficient number of dustbins onsite and signs which urge visitors to respect nature around the beaches, among others.

Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE and one of the world's major oil suppliers, has a mainland coastline with a length of 764 kilometers.

The WWF in association with the local Emirates Wildlife Society (EWS) said in an e-mailed statement that since the United Arab Emirates (UAE) began a pilot phase in 2011, the EWS-WWF team has been working with authorities and stakeholders to raise environmental standards of the country's beaches and marinas.

While Abu Dhabi won eight Blue Flags, Dubai was awarded four. " So for the UAE to now have an additional 12 Blue Flags awarded is a real achievement for the country. This news is very positive and places the UAE as a leader in the Blue Flag program regionally," said Perry.

Spain currently ranks first, with 571 Blue Flags, followed by Greece with 433 and France (including territories) with 359. With a total of 12 new awards, the UAE now shares the spot with Norway and is positioned in-between Latvia, which has 11 flags, and Belgium with 13 in the world rankings.

Abu Dhabi has stepped up efforts to diversify its economy, which relies mostly on oil by investing into tourism through expanding its airport and through building more hotels. The sheikhdom targets 2.5 million tourists for the year 2013, which would represent an increase of 8.7 percent over 2012.

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