UAE is winning battle against desertification

More than 150 million trees have been planted in the country in the last 34 years to help fight desertification, an Arab green group meeting was told.

Addressing the fourth meeting of the Arabian Plant Specialist Group (APSG) here, Majid Al Mansouri, Secretary General of Environmental Research and Wildlife Development Agency (Erwda), said the country has made tremendous achievements in ecology and greening of its plains and deserts under the leadership of the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

He told the meeting that more than 150 million trees were planted and various plants and trees cultivated by residents and farmers during the last 34 years.

"It is important to mention that the country is rich with a variety of plants and shrubs: 84,000 square kilometres of the country have more than 850 species of flora. There are also species that are not known," Al Mansouri said.

Abdul Aziz Al Mohana, Chairman of APSG, in his opening remarks said the group was established six years ago and since then has made tremendous progress.

"We thank Abu Dhabi for hosting this meeting for the second time," he said.

A paper was presented on provisional red list of threatened Arabian Plants. The research paper was prepared by Othman Llewellyn of the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development and Dr Ahmad Al Farhan of King Fahd University.

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