Doha: The Unesco office here is working on the creation of two botanical gardens in the UAE and Qatar in a bid to protect the Arabian Peninsula's biodiversity, which is under threat by the region's rapid development.
The first of the two botanic gardens under development is the result of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's (Unesco) cooperation with the government of Sharjah, where His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah has offered a donation for undertaking the project.
The second garden, to be set up at a later stage, is a joint initiative between Unesco and the Qatar Foundation, a non-profit organisation promoting study and research, with the funding of Maersk Oil Qatar.
Both projects have been dubbed as "Quranic Gardens" because they contain species mentioned in the Quran and their configuration features the main aspects of botanical gardens found in the Islamic architectural tradition.
An international advisory committee comprising architects, botanists, vegetation ecologists and Muslim scholars is supervising the projects.
"Conservation of biological diversity is of extreme importance in a region that is witnessing rapid development, putting strains on the species of the Arabian Peninsula. The Quranic Gardens build on the strong links between cultural heritage and biological diversity conservation," a Unesco official told Gulf News.
The gardens will also serve to set up an educational, scientific and cultural network promoting research and botanical studies in the Arabian Peninsula, an area currently lacking in herbaria, seed banks and botanic gardens.
According to a Unesco publication, the creation of the Sharjah Quranic Garden has been supervised by Shaikh Abdul Nasser Abul Basar, dean of the faculty of Sharia and Islamic studies at University of Sharjah.
The garden will host samples of regional flora mentioned in the Quran and medicinal plants, which have been used in the Islamic traditions and were cited by Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).
The elements of the garden will be drawn with reference to over 150 verses of the Quran mentioning the "Gardens of Paradise". Over the centuries, these verses inspired a number of Islamic gardens embodying a physical recall of heaven on earth and have also influenced landscapes architecture around the world. The core of the Garden will feature plants arranged in four quarters and divided by water canals, with a fountain or a water basin at the centre.
It will include some 54 plants and trees, such as Cedrus Libani to Aloe Vera, from Zingiber Officinalis to Thymus vulgaris.
Additional species from regional ecosystems such as coastal and mountainous regions, sand and gravel desert, wadis, oases and aquatic habitats, together with agricultural plants will be hosted in an adjacent desert garden that the donor is planning to build.
