Ras Al Khor sanctuary listed as only protected wetland in UAE

Dubai: The Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary in Dubai has been listed as the only protected wetland in the UAE.

The sanctuary falls under the Convention on Wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971, which was ratified officially by the UAE in 2007.

Announcing this, Hamdan Al Shaer, Director of Environment Department at Dubai Municipality, said officials from the department have recently attended the Asian Regional Preparatory Meeting of the Convention on Wetlands in Bangkok, Thailand.

The meeting was held from 14 to 18 January 2008 in preparation for the 10th Conference of the Contracting Parties (COP10), which will take place in Changwon, Republic of Korea later in 2008.

The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands is an intergovernmental treaty which provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.

There are presently 157 Contracting Parties to the Convention, with 1,708 wetland sites, totaling 153 million hectares, designated for inclusion in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance.

Al Shaer said the Ras Al Khor Sanctuary, located at the far end of the Dubai Creek, is one of the few urban protected areas in the world recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by the BirdLife International.

This sanctuary is established by fulfilling all the standard criteria of protected areas defined by IUCN –the World Conservation Union.

He said the sanctuary is a safe haven for a variety of plants, animals and birds, which are challenged by the demanding climatic regime, the geology and other physical conditions.