GEO-6 Regional Asssement for West Asia
Mediterranean hosts 4–18 per cent of the world’s marine species.
In addition to their intrinsic value and role in maintaining biodiversity, healthy coastal and marine ecosystems provide a large array of goods and services vital to human existence. The people of West Asia are socially, culturally and economically linked to the sea. The pearl industry was the mainstay of the economy for the GCC countries before the discovery of oil. Most of the fresh water needs in the GCC countries are obtained from seawater through various processes of desalination. Coastal and marine resources continue to be the principal food source of local communities, and fisheries provide a source of income, employment and recreation while contributing to cultural heritage and food security.
The upwelling that occurs during monsoons supports a valuable fishing industry in the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden. Fish production in Oman reached 191 000 tonnes in 2012, with a value of OMR 142 million (USD370 million) (Belwal et al. 2015). Fisheries in Yemen support the livelihoods of 3.2 per cent of the national population, and contributed 1.9 per cent of Yemen’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009 (Alabsi and Komatsu 2014). Fishing in the Mediterranean has grown by about 12 per cent in the last decade, with substantial exploitation of demersal and pelagic stocks (UNEP-MAP RAC/SPA 2010). Lebanon’s fishing fleet landed an estimated total of 4 850 tonnes with a value of USD26.98 million in 2011 (Pinello and Dimech 2013).
The tourism industry is also growing rapidly in the West Asia region, at 5–18 per cent per year on average (Gladstone et al. 2013). Coastal and marine environments in the ROPME sea area and the Red Sea and Mediterranean provide many opportunities for recreational and tourist activities. The amenities and recreational opportunities for tourism provided by the Mediterranean’s marine and coastal ecosystems form the foundation of more than 68 per cent of the total value of economic benefits provided by these ecosystems and about 17 per cent of total international tourist spending (UNEP/MAP 2012). Tourism constitutes around 20 per cent of Lebanese GDP (UN-Habitat 2011).
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Coral reefs in the Red Sea represent important tourist attraction sites. In 2010, Jordan accounted for 14 per cent of total tourist arrivals in the Red Sea (Gladstone et al. 2013).
2.3.2 Pressures on coastal and marine environments
Dredging and reclamation
Coastal and marine environments in the West Asia region have become the focus of a wide variety of industrial, commercial and recreational activities. Rapid economic development, especially in the GCC countries, has resulted in urbanisation and infrastructure expansion proceeding at a fast pace in association with a dramatic increase in the human population (Burt 2014). By the early 1990s, more than 40 per cent of the coasts of the GCC countries had been subjected to modification, resulting in significant loss of biodiversity and productivity (Hamza and Munawar 2009).
The construction of ports and artificial islands through dredging led to changes in topography and bathymetry, alterations in tidal currents and sediment transport pathways, and increases in suspended sediment concentration, organic material, heavy metals and other pollutants (Box 2.3.1).
Many valuable coastal habitats including mudflats, mangrove swamps and rocky shores have been lost due to intensive dredging and reclamation activities. Mangrove forests along the coasts of the ROPME Sea Area and the Red Sea are experiencing pressures due to a combination of effects, mostly attributed to large-scale development along the coasts (PERSGA 2004a).
Dredging and reclamation activities have impacts on marine life, including decreasing the abundance and diversity of benthic organisms, degradation of coral reefs and seagrass ecosystems due to sediment runoff and turbidity, and loss of spawning nursery and feeding grounds for fish, crustaceans and wading birds. Dugongs have been heavily affected by marine construction activities that have destroyed large parts of the seagrass beds on which they feed (Box 2.3.1).
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