Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi residents will have a role in updating the habitat mapping project that helps improve biodiversity, urban planning, crisis management and food security.
Residents can report the flora and fauna they find outdoors to the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi (EAD) through a mobile application named ‘collector’, officials said here on Monday.
Around 150 school students have already downloaded the application and are actively using it. The data submitted by the residents will be validated by the satellite images of the habitat map.
Forestry mapping undertaken as part of the habitat project is believed to be the first of its kind successfully conducted in an arid desert environment. More than 20 million trees in the forests of Abu Dhabi were mapped, individually identifying their species and health condition. The trees have been given individual IDs on the database.
The database in general and individual identity of trees in particular will help identify the healthy trees when Environmental Impact Assessment studies are done for various projects. Extra care could be taken to spare healthy trees when implementing developmental projects if accurate data is available to authorities.
