Chapter 2: State of the Environment and Policy Response
Figure 2.4.1: Ecological habitat map of the Arabian Peninsula
Syrian Arab Republic
Lebanon Iraq
Gaza Strip
West Bank
Jordan Marine ecosystems Kuwait Bahrain Qatar
Saudi Arabia
United Arab Emirates
Oman
The region is surrounded by major saline water bodies: the Red Sea, the Sea of Oman, and the Regional Organization for the Protection of the Marine Environment (ROPME) Sea Area. Relatively rich biodiversity exists in these major seas and along their coastal areas. Such diverse terrestrial and marine ecosystems provide products and services to the people of the region as well as to the international community.
Yemen
Terrestrial Ecoregions Al Hajar montane woodlands Arabian Desert and East Sahero-Arabian xeric shrublands Arabian Peninsula coastal fog desert Eastern Mediterranean conifer-sclerophyllous-broadleaf forests Gulf of Oman desert and semi-desert Mesopotamian shrub desert Middle East steppe Persian Gulf desert and semi-desert Red Sea Nubo-Sindian tropical desert and semi-desert Socotra Island xeric shrublands South Iran Nubo-Sindian desert and semi-desert Southern Anatolian montane conifer and deciduous forests Southwestern Arabian foothills savanna Southwestern Arabian montane woodlands Tigris-Euphrates alluvial salt marsh Zagros Mountains forest steppe
Source: World Wildlife Fund (WWF), 2009 Source: Olson et al. 2001
A number of globally important biodiversity features, including wetlands and marshlands, support a large population of migratory birds. Furthermore, coastal and marine habitats, especially mangroves, salt marshes and coral reefs, and the region’s populations of dugongs, are also of global importance, particularly in light of global declines in species and degradation of ecosystems.
Seagrass beds are one of the Gulf’s most productive coastal ecosystems and cover large areas of shallow water habitats (less than 15 metres deep) throughout the ROPME Sea Area. Of the world’s more than 50 species of seagrasses, three occur in ROPME waters. About 9 per cent of the Gulf’s faunal taxa have been estimated to occur in its seagrass meadows, around half of which are molluscs. Seagrasses also sustain the world’s second largest population of the vulnerable dugong (Preen 2004) and are important foraging areas for the endangered green turtle (Sheppard et al. 2010).
Most coastal ecosystems in Arabia have been classified as vulnerable, having lost significant portions of their original extent, and in need of further representation in the protected area network. Coral reefs in the Gulf, Gulf of Aden and Gulf of Oman, for example, are all critically endangered. Mangroves and seagrass and macro-algal beds are similarly threatened.
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the Shatt Al-Arab waterways. Other minor rivers include the Asi-Orontes, Litani and Afrin, which feeds into the Mediterranean Sea. The Jordan River enters Lake Tiberias and ends at the Dead Sea. These rivers, along with a number of natural lakes and hundreds of natural springs in the Mashriq countries, have created unique riparian ecosystems.
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