Sulphur dioxide and particulate matter are causing concerns, the report says, adding that Sulphur dioxide pollution is mainly a problem in Medinat Zayed, Habshan and Ruwais. Pollution levels in these areas are either close to or exceed air pollution limits.

Nitrogen dioxide levels have shot up in parts of Abu Dhabi City, Al Ain and Ruwais, according to the report. There is a relatively high, naturally occurring level of particulate matter in the air exceeding the air quality limits in areas like Mafraq, Shahama, Samha, Sas Al Nakhl and Al Ain, it adds.

Emissions 

The global mean temperature is rising because of emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly from fossil fuel consumption, it says.

The UAE has one of the highest per capita emission rates in the world, as per the report. Climate change may affect Abu Dhabi by raising the sea level, more flooding and extreme weather. Destruction of coral reef habitats has also been linked to climate change. Two episodes of coral bleaching took place in 1996 and 1998 in which live coral cover in some reefs declined by more than three-quarters. Recovery is now beginning to take place.

Ozone layer 

The ozone layer has been reduced on an average by three per cent since 1980 and an ozone hole is created over Antarctica during spring every year. Due to the Montreal Protocol consumption of ozone depleting substances is decreasing globally and the ozone layer is expected to recover significantly by 2050. The UAE is in the process of phasing out the consumption of ozone depleting substances. Import of Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and Halon will be banned in January 2010.

Furthermore, the report talks about how human beings have undoubtedly been having an impact on natural environments and biodiversity in the Arabian Gulf region for millennia. The earliest known archaeological sites within the Abu Dhabi date from over 7000 years ago.

However, the severity of human impacts has increased enormously within recent years, and particularly during the past half century. This is thanks to the burgeoning human population and the extremely rapid rate of development since the coming of an oil-based economy in the 1960s, the report says.

The great majority of Abu Dhabi’s 1.6 million or so inhabitants live in the coastal zone and it is here that human impacts are most directly felt, it says. However, people are increasingly also affecting the fragile, arid-land environments of the interior.

Fossils 

The report also mentions that Abu Dhabi is very rich in archaeological and palaeontological resources. Important fossils date to the Cretaceous period, between 66 and 144 million years ago. The Baynunah formation, in the emirate’s western region, has some of the world’s best exposures of Late Miocene fossils from 6-8 million years ago.

Various examples of Bronze Age remains can be found. In fact, two Bronze Age chronological subdivisions – the Haft period (3200-2600 BC) and the Umm an-Nar period (2600-2000 BC) – take their names from regions in the emirate.

Research also indicates that the ‘falaj’, an underground water channel system, was indigenous to the region around 3,000 years ago, during the Iron Age.

Currently, about six per cent of the emirate’s total area is green by means of irrigation. This includes agricultural areas, forests, parks, gardens and roadside plantations.

About the marine resources, the report says physical alterations such as land reclamation, dredging and the construction of breakwaters, along with increasing urban sprawl has resulted in the loss, degradation and fragmentation of coastal and marine habitats in Abu Dhabi.

Furthermore, urbanisation, which is being driven by a dramatic increase in the population growth rate, has led to increased pollution loads, particularly in the near shore area where the deterioration in water quality has impaired natural processes and the productivity of coastal ecosystems.

In addition to these, the waste treatment contributes to a number of environmental problems such as emissions of greenhouse gases, heavy metals and other environmentally hazardous chemicals. If not properly handled, landfills will leak and contaminate groundwater, gases evaporate and contribute to global climate change, and toxic fumes will escape and threaten the health of people, says the report.