The National has recently looked at efforts to green the UAE desert by planting trees, following an announcement that Sharjah will forest the area around Khor Fakkan.
In comments about the initiative, Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, the Ruler of Sharjah, highlighted the importance of the qasd, a native tree of which he has fond childhood memories.
The qasd is “a valuable native shrub that should be planted”, according to Dr Gary Brown, a leading expert on the region's flora who has lived in the UAE and elsewhere in the Gulf.
Dr Brown himself has grown the qasd from seed and even from cuttings in Kuwait when working on desert restoration.
The qasd has, however, suffered from overgrazing, as camels will, Dr Brown says, eat the tree back until it eventually dies.
“It does not need much water to survive, but obviously if you have a high density of plants, you will need some form of irrigation,” he says.
He describes the qasd as being excellent for wildlife, including many birds, and for small mammals that create burrows underneath.
This article discusses further how greening the UAE desert with native species, including the national tree, the ghaf, benefits whole ecosystems and is about more than creating inert stands of forest.
Among the other people quoted in the article is Dr Wafa Al Yamani, a desertification control policy expert at the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment.
I was previously in contact with Dr Al Yamani, an Emirati researcher, for this 2022 article about her doctoral studies, which were funded by the UAE and supervised by a New Zealand university.
The work involved using sensors to determine how much water a tree takes up from the ground, information that indicates the level of watering that is needed. This ensures that water – a precious commodity in a hot country such as the UAE – is not wasted.
People such as Dr Al Yamani demonstrate how the UAE’s own citizens, alongside the best experts from abroad, are playing a central role in managing the country’s natural environment.
Could the Tour de France be driven off the road by climate change?
The Tour de France is cycling's most famous grand tour event – but could it be set for a major upheaval because of climate change?
Researchers have said that warming temperatures in Europe mean that the format and timing of the event – it typically takes place in July – are becoming “questionable”.
The scientists behind the work, who are based in France, the United Kingdom and Spain, looked at wind and humidity as well as temperatures when making their calculations.
This article by Paul Carey gives full details of the findings and discusses the potential implications for the tour.
How the UAE's natural history is sparking plenty of interest
The UAE is rich in flora and fauna, both on land and in the sea, and probably the most up-to-date and comprehensive single book detailing this is A Natural History of the Emirates.
From corals to climate, from geckos to gazelles, they are all featured in the lavishly illustrated volume, which stretches to more than 700 pages and is available for free as a pdf.
Prof John Burt, a marine biologist at NYU Abu Dhabi and the book’s editor, has just announced that the book has been downloaded no less than half a million times since it was published two years ago.
This means that a 2024 article by John Dennehy detailing the book’s development and much else is well worth revisiting.
The big fact
Temperatures in the Aral Sea area have risen by as much as 1.8 °C to 2.5 °C, according to the latest edition of the Atlas of Environmental Change, launched late last year by the UN Environment Programme. Rising temperatures will have knock-on effects on water supplies, as the melting of glaciers is reducing run-off.
Jargon buster
Water abstraction: Removing water from natural sources, including rivers, aquifers (underground water-containing rocks), seas and springs, typically so that it can be piped, pumped or diverted for domestic use, agriculture or industry. Water abstraction is sustainable, according to Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency, if it does not affect the use of water bodies, if it allows abstractions to continue long-term and if it does not harm biodiversity.
Get the latest climate news here.
Read more
The National produces a variety of newsletters across an array of subjects. To get the best of our coverage straight to your inbox, sign up to them here.
