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Marine life hit hard by urbanisation

ABU DHABI — The intense urbanisation of the UAE over the past 30 years has taken its toll on marine life, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Abu Dhabi.

The 2004 Living Planet Report says that the UAE has the highest level of human pressure on global ecosystems in the world. Fisheries and real estate developments are mainly responsible for the degradation of marine life, not only along the UAE coast, but also in other parts of the Gulf area, the report says.

Finding solutions for these problems have become imperative and therefore the WWF organised a meeting between representatives of the GCC countries, Yemen and Iran last week. They discussed various ways of improving and protecting coral reefs and marine turtles in the Gulf waters.

Dr Susan Lieberman, director of WWF International, came from Rome to attend the meeting forum. “I can honestly say that it was a productive gathering.”

“The most important thing is that we all came together and admitted there is a problem and we are willing to find solutions for it,” Dr Lieberman told Khaleej Times.

She asserted that these environmental problems could no longer be kept in dossiers. “We want transparency which will help educate locals about these issues. It will also help to involve scientists from the region itself,” said Dr Lieberman.

She said that it’s primarily fisheries (industrial net fishing) and coastal overdeveloping that are damaging coral reefs and marine turtles. “Also, in many parts of the Gulf, people are hunting turtles and eating their eggs, often leaving their nests empty,” said the WWF director.

She added that most hotels and other estate developers did not know about the harm they were causing to the ecosystem and hence, they should be informed about it. “We are not asking for stopping development altogether, but this should take place without damaging the ecosystem,” said Dr Lieberman.

She also pointed out that diving and other marine activities attract a large number of tourists to the region. If hotels destroy these natural habitats, they are going to lose customers, she said. Regarding law enforcement, she said any hotelier will have to have an environmental research done before he can start his project and if he is going to destroy the marine life in one place, he will have to ensure restitution of marine life elsewhere.

• UAE