Chapter 2: State of the Environment and Policy Response
2.3 Coastal and marine resources Key messages: Coastal and marine resources
• More than 40 per cent of the coasts of the GCC countries have been subjected to modification, resulting in significant loss of biodiversity and productivity.
• Discharges from desalination and power plants constitute 48 per cent of the total industrial effluent volume load flowing directly into the marine environment of the ROPME Sea Area.
• Around 20 per cent of mangroves on the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia and about 50 per cent of the coral reefs were affected by oil contamination during that oil spill.
• • •
In the Gaza Strip (OPT), around 60 per cent of sewage effluents are treated and the remaining 40 per cent are discharged to the sea without treatment due to the limited capacity of wastewater treatment plants.
• The rate of exploitation of living marine resources in the region has increased dramatically. Catches of marine fish in the GCC countries, have doubled over two decades.
It is projected that 83 square kilometres, or 11 per cent of the total land area of Bahrain, would be lost by 2050 as a result of a 0.3 metre increase in mean sea level. Around 23.89 square kilometres of Syrian beaches and agricultural zones could be lost by 2100 through a 1.3 metre rise in sea level. The predicted sea level rise along the Lebanese coastline might increase by 22–45 centimetres by 2050, with severe impacts on economic, agricultural and tourist activities.
Introduction of aquatic invasive species is considered one of the major threats facing the marine environment in West Asia.
• Several countries have embarked on updating their strategies and action plans according to international targets, however, implementing effective, participatory and updated national biodiversity strategies and action plans, which can contribute to the protection of coastal and marine ecosystems in West Asia, is essential.
2.3.1 Coastal and marine environments in West Asia
Marine environments in the West Asia region can be divided ecologically into three regions: the Regional Organization for the Protection of the Marine Environment (ROPME) Sea Area, which includes Iraq and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE); the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea (Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen); and the south- eastern part of the Mediterranean (Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip in the OPT).
The region’s coastline totals approximately 14 000 kilometres: 506 kilometres of the Mediterranean Sea, 3 016 kilometres of the eastern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, 4
000 kilometres of the Arabian Sea and 6 485 kilometres around the ROPME Sea Area. West Asia hosts some of the world’s most important coastal and marine environments with a considerable wealth of biodiversity.
The region is home to habitats such as mangrove stands, coral reefs, seagrass beds, algal beds and productive wetlands including mudflats, saltflats and sandflats. It also supports some of the most vulnerable and endangered species on the planet, including dugongs, with the world’s second largest population in the ROPME Sea Area; turtles; dolphins; and Socotra cormorants, with the Hawar Islands in Bahrain hosting one of the world’s largest breeding colonies. The region is characterized by high levels of endemism. The
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