Environmental Issues

Did you know that lack of mangrove plantations across the globe would lead to the breakdown of environmental systems and in the economy in general Did you also know that there is a high decline on the mangrove populations in planet earth The earliest recorded reference in relation to mangrove forests was in 325 B .C. by Nearchus, a Greek explorer who traversed the Mediterranean Sea. The word mangrove is gotten from the word grove, which means a group or a stand of trees. It is also defined as a diverse group of predominantly tropical trees, shrubs, palms or ground ferns that generally exceed two feet in height, and grow primarily in the marine intertidal zone (Buck, 2000). This post will discuss how to improve the role of the environment in the United Arab Emirates.
Despite the fact that mangroves are classified as trees, they have a versatile form, in that they grow in harsh conditions and are quite low. Also, they have canopies which can attain a height of forty meters and above under favorable conditions. The habitat of the trees is known as mangrove or tidal forest. The mangroves can be referred to as the border between land and sea because they mark the inter phase between marine and terrestrial types. They are grouped in ecological groups which are similar in physiological terms (Biota, 2007).

Mangroves are commonly found in habitats which are salty and as a result, they have adapted to the saltiness of their habitats. Some of the adaptations include having glands that excrete salt near their leaves and having exposed roots specifically for proper gaseous exchange (Buck, 2000).Therefore, the mangrove is an important part of the ecosystem as seen from the discussion.

The Earth Summit
This was a conference held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 which devoted great attention to the third world countries in matters regarding the global pollution that existed. According to the researchers, global pollution was as a result of greenhouse gases spawned by industrialized countries, particularly Europe and the United States. The summit also discussed in length on how to improve desert lands in the world by various ways of land reclamation and planting vegetation which are adapted to such situations. The U.A.E. is one of the countries in the world which has highly utilized all the resources it has so as to do avoid desertification (Smith A, 1999). 

The United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates is a tropical region which has a lot of mangrove plantations in its coastal areas. The most common species of the mangrove tree in U.A.E. is known as the Avicennia marina. Mangrove colonies are present along Abu Dhabi, Khor Kalba and Ras Al Khaima islands. They contribute a lot to the reduction of desertification and improve the natural habitats in the coast for fish and birds. They are seen to be very important in reforming the environment of the U.A.E. This is because there is availability of a coastline which is long, several islands and lagoons and an impoundment of natural water in U.A.E.  In the United Arab Emirates, mangroves crop up in patches alongside the coast and occupy about 3,000 hectares of the total surface area of the country (UAE Government, 2010).

Benefits of mangrove forests
Mangroves in United Arab Emirates are considered natural habitats and nursery grounds for several crustacean and fish. Its wood is also used for making poles, fuel wood for constructing fishing gears, and also used in charcoal production. In addition, tannin which is used in timber industries is also produced by mangrove trees. Mangrove tees also contribute much to the prevention of soil erosion and coastline wave action as their roots hold firmly to the ground. They also increase the resistance of the cyclones and waves, and contribute to mud flats formation. Lastly, the animals get good fodder from the mangrove trees, mostly in the arid areas (UAE Government, 2010).

How does the environment affect the U.A.E. Mangroves
U.A.E. is a desert ecosystem and therefore it very difficult to come up with a project in such an area. This is because once a building is constructed in a desert area it adds complexity as far as plant and animal species are concerned. A good example of people who faced this kind of challenge was the Abu Dhabi workers. The construction of the Al Gurm five star resorts had to go through a lot of challenges during its construction in the year 2007.The contractors would not just construct the resort without caring for the environment as they would have to cope with a remote resort or dry land. The senior leader in the project, Mr. Twal stated that before the construction of the resort was done, a lot of considerations had to be made in regard to the mangrove plantations that existed. Therefore, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was done for the site. Before construction would go on, the environmental consultant had to give what was known as Construction Environmental Management Plan (CEMP) so that they could start the construction work (Conford, 2007).

The construction of the resort gives us a good situation where the role of the environment proved to be very crucial to the mangroves. It gives a good example on what can be done so as to improve human activities in the environment for purposes of protecting the mangrove vegetation and its ecosystem. Building and construction is one human activity which can destroy the mangrove vegetation. It would be very risky to destroy the vegetation as it is the only vegetation type which is largely responsible for preventing desertification in the coastal areas of the U.A.E. Therefore, in building and construction, careful practices need to be adopted to ensure that there is minimum impact on mangrove plantations (Conford, 2007).

To start with, there has to be careful procedures for burials and the instruments which cut off the flow of water to the plantations. This is because the mangrove plantations require water to wash off the salinity effect on the leaves .If the flow of water is cut, it would result to desertification (Conford, 2007).

Fuel is non bio-degradable, meaning that it cannot be decomposed. A lot of machinery is used in building and construction with fuel being used in most of those machineries. It is therefore important to ensure that during construction work, there is prevention of possible fuel leakage as it destroys the mangrove ecosystem. Constructors should also avoid using chemicals and solvents near the vegetation as it will also have the same effect as fuel has (Conford, 2007).

It is impossible to construct any machinery work without excavating large amounts of silt. Silt is also dangerous as far as mangrove vegetation is concerned as it is not suitable for the growth of the mangrove growth. Therefore, a silt screen should be constructed around the construction site perimeter so as to ensure that there is no silt or nutrients which migrate to the plantations. This can happen when there are strong currents created due to the changing environment (Conford, 2007).
It is not only the construction which can cause damage to the mangrove ecosystem. Pollution issues will be prevalent and therefore there has to be adopted a vacuum sewerage system. During the construction of the resort, the sewage pipeline was housed in a bridges deck and it connected to the residential developments through the mangroves (Conford, 2007).

It is difficult to plant trees on any kind of coastal arid land due to the salinity level of water. Agriculture is therefore a difficult thing in a coastal land and it is impossible to reclaim the land in large scale. The only growth that can take place is that of mangrove trees, specifically the gray mangrove trees. However, there must be sea water and nutrients for the effective growth of the mangrove trees (Smith, 1999).  

According to the ecological observations made in various UAE lagoons, there exist abundant fish resources where mangrove vegetation is present. Seawater from farms with fish and shrimps has a high content of dissolved feed and a lot of human waste which is a great pollutant to the marine environment (Smith A, 1999).

The U.A, E. Ministry of environment and water realized that it was important to plant mangroves in arid areas. In 1985, there was an afforestation program which was launched and following the launch, there was seedling cultivation in different localities. It was also discovered that mangrove swamps could play a very good role in fish breeding, as they could act as nursery grounds to types of crustaceans and species. This is because they identified a lot of fish larvae in the mangrove cultivated areas. Examples of such species were snappers, rabbit fish and sea breams. These observations by the Ministry of Water and Environment made the government to advocate and support all fishery resources in U.A.E (UAE government, 2010).

Mangroves in the U.A.E. are not highly threatened by the dwellers for firewood, unlike other countries. Therefore the cutting down of trees is minimal. The government has largely contributed to this by backing a planting program which has ensured that the intertidal flats have been fully covered by the mangrove vegetation. However, deforestation happens at times in the U.A.E. though it is a very serious crime. Some people cut down the mangrove plantations without replacing them with seedlings. This is a serious misdeed which contributes largely to soil erosion and thereafter desertification. The role of man is to protect the mangrove vegetation so as to ensure that there is reduction in the dangers of soil erosion and desertification in general. (U.A.E. Interact, 2010).

The U.A.E. citizens are encouraged to preserve the mangrove vegetation as it contributes to rainfall. Even though it is a desert area, there is coastal greening as a result of the mangrove vegetation and it attracts rainfall, even though minimal. The fresh rain water is important to the mangrove vegetation in that the salt excesses released from the pores are cleaned off, therefore making gaseous exchange happen effectively within the mangrove vegetation (U.A.E. Interact, 2010).

Ecologically, the mangrove vegetation is very vital for coastal greening, protecting the coastline and restoring the habitat. A variety of birds and marine environment get a breeding habitat which adds to the beauty of the region and in turn promotes eco-tourism. This is especially so in the hyper arid coasts where very few trees continue to exist and flourish (U.A.E. Interact, 2010).

In conclusion, it is the responsibility of every noble citizen in the U.A.E. to ensure that the process of desertification is reduced in all ways possible. The government of U.A.E. has tried so much in reclaiming the land which was once a desert through the planting of mangrove trees. It has also been extensively involved in environmental conservation. If the environment is conserved by checking the human activities, the Mangrove vegetation will continue to flourish along the U.A.E. coasts, which will improve the countrys economy in general.