Hundreds of thousands of trees have died on the Dubai coast; when they were planted, the plan was to "halt" the desert. It all started wonderfully: Dubai's leaders posed for photos while planting trees, they were applauded, and the media covered the highly ambitious environmental initiative. In 2010, Sheikh Mohammed, the leader of Dubai (and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates), announced the "one million trees initiative", which aimed to expand green areas in the emirate by planting trees and beautifying the city.