UAE’s Green Diplomacy or Political Whitewash? The Coral Cover-Up in Florida

Watan-From Florida’s coral reefs to the war-torn landscapes of Yemen, Sudan, and Libya, a web of suspicious connections reveals the darker side of the UAE’s so-called “environmental diplomacy.”

At the heart of this network stands a local American nonprofit called United Way of Collier and the Keys (UWCK). According to multiple investigations, UWCK has been quietly transformed into a soft-power tool for Abu Dhabi’s international image-building efforts.

Lavish Funding, Hidden Motives

The UAE donated millions of dollars to UWCK under the guise of supporting post-hurricane recovery and coral reef restoration in Florida’s Keys region. These initiatives were widely publicized as a reflection of the UAE’s environmental commitment—particularly ahead of hosting the COP28 climate summit in Dubai in 2023.

However, behind this green façade, U.S. intelligence and media reports suggest these funds were part of a coordinated effort to influence Washington policymakers. UWCK allegedly served as a front for covert operations executed by agents linked to Emirati security services.

The real objective extended far beyond the environment: it was about accessing American political influence, laundering the UAE’s human rights reputation, and suppressing criticism of its brutal regional interventions.

Spies in Nonprofits

According to U.S. media reports, individuals connected to the UAE used UWCK’s platform to integrate themselves into civil and environmental networks in the American South and build ties with local officials.

This happened even as the UAE faced widespread accusations of war crimes—from supporting armed militias and running secret prisons in Yemen, to fueling Sudan’s violence by arming the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), responsible for massacres, village burnings, and child starvation.

Observers believe the UAE is exploiting “environmental causes” as a new channel of influence, now that its image as a “humanitarian sponsor” has been undermined by its role in multiple regional disasters.

By investing in American charities like UWCK, Abu Dhabi is crafting a new narrative: one that presents it as a champion of sustainability, while its sponsored institutions remain silent on the country’s ongoing human rights abuses.

Greenwashing Through Coral Reefs

Simultaneously with these environmental projects, UAE-Saudi airstrikes continued to decimate Yemeni cities, contributing to what the UN calls the worst humanitarian crisis of the 21st century.

In Sudan, Human Rights Watch and the United Nations have documented the UAE’s role in arming the RSF, which has committed grave atrocities—killing civilians, burning villages, and starving thousands of children in Darfur and Kordofan.

Against this backdrop, funding coral reef restoration in Florida appears to be a blatant attempt to whitewash a bloodstained political record. It is an effort to rebrand the UAE through environmental imagery while evading global accountability.

To date, UWCK has issued no public statement disclosing the full scale of Emirati donations or clarifying its ties to Abu Dhabi officials.

Nor has the U.S. government launched any public investigations into this funding—despite repeated calls from media and rights groups to scrutinize foreign support for nonprofit organizations.

Transparency experts warn that ignoring such relationships threatens the integrity of American civil society and opens the door for foreign actors to exploit humanitarian and environmental causes as tools of political propaganda.

The relationship between the UAE and UWCK reveals a key tactic in the Emirates’ broader strategy: using “green diplomacy” as soft defense against allegations of war crimes and systemic rights violations.

As coral is planted in Florida, innocent lives are uprooted in Yemen, Sudan, and Libya.

Until an independent investigation is launched into these donations and their political implications, the slogan “Environment First” remains a green mask concealing a face stained with ash and blood.