Capital’s nature delight to open

posted on 26/11/2006: 39 views

One of Abu Dhabi's most unique natural and archaeological sites is to be opened to the public within the coming months for the first time, it has been disclosed. "In two to five months we will open our visitors' centre on the Marawah Marine Protected Area island where we can educate and host tourists wishing to see this unique place,” said Ashraf Al Cibahy, head of the Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi (EAD) Marine Protected Area.



The Marawah Marine Protected Area came under special management for preservation through an Emiri decree issued in 2001. The area includes islands, sea grass beds, coral reefs, mangrove forests and sabkha salt flats and is spread out over 4,255 square kilometres.



The area is home to a number of endangered and threatened species, including sea turtles, flamingos and the Socotra cormorant. Jointly Marawah and the Al Yasat Marine Protected Area hosts 75 per cent of the UAE's dugong population.



In 2004, it was also discovered that the Marawah Island was home to the UAE's oldest ancient settlement remains, which date back to over 7,000 years. The area's natural and historical wealth is considered to be unique not only in Abu Dhabi, but in all of the UAE, but had been kept shut from the public and even the media until very recently. Now the EAD is ready to show the world what Marawah is all about, and is contracting a company in a day's time to build the visitor's centre.



Al Cibahy said centre – the first new structure to be built on the island in many years – will include a reception, information area and a guest facility where visitors can come and stay for a day or more to learn about the island.



A fleet of boats will also be acquired to ferry the visitors to the remote island, as well as dune buggies to transport the tourists across the sand and salt-flats that have been kept safe from development's destructive hand.



Since its establishment as the UAE's biggest marine protected area, the EAD has been in-charge of the area and its management. The agency monitors and assesses changes in the ecosystem, protects the waters from poaching, works with the indigenous locals for sustainable fishing, and heads up all conservation and reintroduction projects on the island.



Its monitoring works have also recently discovered that the island's coral wealth, which was hit by massive bleaching in 1996, 1998 and 2002 due to Arabian Gulf temperature anomalies, is finally beginning to improve.



"We have been monitoring the human and natural impacts on the coral wealth and now have found that 10 per cent of the coral in Marawah is regenerating,” Al Cibahy added. (Emirates Today)

RELATED ARTICLES