Mangrove forests in the Persian Gulf and surrounding regions could shrink by 45% over the next 50 years. This warning was issued by scientists, calling human activities and climate change the main threat to the life of vulnerable trees.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), since 1996, the area of mangrove forests in the Persian Gulf countries has decreased by about 14%. The situation in the UAE looks somewhat better than in other countries of the region, in particular, in Bahrain, Iran, Yemen, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia. The situation in North Africa, in particular, Egypt and Sudan, looks alarming.
The main threat to mangroves is dredging, removal of sediments to create coastal infrastructure and artificial islands, as well as filling of wetlands. This disrupts tidal flows, leading to increased salinity, decreased oxygen levels and subsequent plant death. "Under a high sea level rise scenario, more than 16% of the Persian Gulf's mangroves will be underwater by 2060," the report says.
The southern coast of the UAE accounts for up to 47% of the mangroves of the entire Persian Gulf, and another 39% - on the northern coast of Iran.
In 2021, at the Cop26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, the Emirates announced a plan to plant 100 million mangrove trees. The implementation of the "Abu Dhabi Mangroves" initiative is being carried out by the emirate's Environment Agency. In three years, 44 million mangrove trees have been planted, which is enough to cover 9,200 hectares.
In Dubai, in April of this year, plans for the world's largest coastal restoration project were unveiled. If approved, the Dubai mangroves will become a 72-kilometer stretch of restored coastline and home to 100 million planted mangrove trees.
The study across the Persian Gulf is part of the recently announced IUCN Red List of Ecosystem Assessments, which states that more than half of the world's mangroves are under threat, largely due to sea level rise caused by climate change.
According to Marcos Valderrama, Head of the Red List of Ecosystems program, it came as a surprise to him that such a large part of the mangroves are under threat, as the large-scale losses of the 1970s and 1980s, often as a result of dam construction and other activities, have slowed down. In addition, significant efforts have been made in recent decades to restore mangroves and improve habitat protection policies. However, in recent years, climate change has become a growing concern and is now considered a threat to about a third of mangroves worldwide, not counting dam construction, deforestation and pollution.
A key reason for the decline of mangroves in some of the hotter and drier regions of the world has been the reduced flow of fresh water into coastal areas where mangroves grow, and its active use in agriculture or for domestic water supply in cities.
According to Valderrama, in areas where sea level rise is the main threat, efforts can be made to help mangroves adapt. These include helping mangrove trees grow vertically, for example, by trapping sediment, or creating a buffer zone behind mangrove trees so they can retreat in the face of rising sea levels.
Mangroves protect coastal communities from tsunamis and serve as nurseries for fish. They are also vital carbon stores, so scientists consider the loss of forests to be catastrophic for nature and people around the world.
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