ERWDA symposium on Dec. 22

The Environmental Research and Wildlife Development Agency (ERWDA) will hold the second international symposium and workshop on arid zone environment on December 22 to assess the threat to mangrove and salt marsh ecosystems in the arid environments.

The three-day forum will be held at the UAE Armed Forces Club in Abu Dhabi. It will be held under the patronage of Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Deputy Chairman of ERWDA, in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme, the International Centre for Biosaline Agriculture and the Japan Oil Development Company.

"The objectives will be to bring together scientists, managers and decision makers to consider the current status of, and threat to, mangrove and salt marsh ecosystems in arid environments, particularly in the Arabian Peninsula," said Majid Al Mansouri, ERWDA's acting Secretary General.

The second day of the event will consist of interactive workshops to develop ideas on proposed approaches to regional cooperation on research and development and see if there is a role for inter-tidal wetland ecosystems in the midst of urbanisation and coastal development. Al Mansouri said the importance of inter-tidal ecosystems is widely recognised in arid zones where natural fresh water resources are limited.

In addition to aesthetic advantages of having vegetated areas rather than barren ground, mangrove and salt marsh ecosystems provide direct benefits such as a habitat for a variety of wildlife including birds and fish.

Worldwide, mangrove and salt marsh ecosystems are threatened by factors such as a rise in sea level due to global warming, the use of mangrove areas for aquaculture, the indiscriminate harvesting of mangroves for wood or fodder and the direct and indirect destruction due to human activity, Al Mansouri added.

He noted that in this regard ERWDA, through the Terrestrial Environmental Research Centre, is seeking to protect mangrove ecosystems in several ways by undertaking a multi-faceted approach to improve mangrove plantation techniques and investigations on the potential for growing non-native mangroves and to grow mangroves in coastal sabkha environments.

ERWDA's mangrove programme has three components - optimisation of nursery and planting practices for native and non-native species; and the development of sabkha areas for mangrove establishment, a collaboration with Japan Oil Development Company.

The third aspect is a collaborative research project with the International Centre for Biosaline Agriculture in Dubai to investigate the growth responses of several non-native mangroves to a range of water salinity.