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Global Warming and Untreated Sewage Pose Threat to Coral Reefs

Local Agencies to Help Map Condition of UAE and Qatar Coasts.

GULFNEWS SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2004

By Jay B. Hilotin, Staff Reporter 

Dubai

The dumping of untreated sewage into the sea and global warming are destroying the Gulf's coral reefs, a United Nations report found.

The damage is described in a study conducted by the United Nations Environment Programme, which has also suggested ways to address the problem.

The study, called the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities, said the discharge of untreated waste water is the biggest source of pollution in these waters.

Pollution

"Untreated sewage is a big problem that leads to the loss of coral reefs.

"But the other problem really is global warming," said Wolf Hilbertz, a Dubai-based German conservationist.

Hilbertz, an architect turned-marine scientist and inventor, also said the Gulf waters were getting saltier and warmer due to slow regeneration, if any, of marine life and huge volumes of brine from desalination plants.

"Global warming has created difficult conditions for marine fauna and flora, the rising sea levels and the effects of seaward development.

Hilbertz blamed the heat and the water's high salinity for the massive coral bleaching and subsequent mortality in the Gulf that destroyed more than 90 per cent of the coral reefs in 1997and 1998.

To help preserve marine resources, Dolphin Energy Ltd, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Environmental Research and Wildlife Development Agency (Erwda) in Abu Dhabi are set to collaborate on a $500,000 project to map the status and condition of coral reefs in the UAE, especially around Abu Dhabi, and Qatar.

Three-year project

Qatar's Supreme Council for the Environment and Nature Reserves is an associate in the three-year project.

According to the Emirates Environment Group, the study is expected to come up with a comprehensive blueprint for coral reef conservation in the region along with a coral reef atlas and guide.

 

Environment watchers said the project will boost the government's efforts for an integrated coastal management plan:

The research' team will study the extent of damage and the possibility of restoration, the group said in its latest publication.

Other possibilities in coral reef conservation in the country being looked at include coral reef propagation through advanced technologies. Meanwhile, the Department of Water Resources Studies and the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration have also signed a deal to study the region's atmospheric changes. 

HITECH

Tapping technology to restore marine life

  • Marine environmentalists say coral reefs in the Arabian Gulf are threatened by pollution, effluents (brine) from desalination facilities, slow regeneration of Gulf waters and global warming.
  • Coral bleaching episode which decimated over 90 percent of coral reef in the near shore areas of the UAE blamed on global warming.
  • Dolphin Energy Ltd., the World Wide Fund for Nature and Erwda are set to collaborate on a project to map the status and condition of coral reefs in the UAE and Qatar.
  • Electrodeposition, also called Biorock, a technique developed in lab experiments over the last 30 years by Harvard educated Dr. Tom Goreau with Prof Hilbertz, prove rapid coral reef restoration is possible using low voltage electricity.
  • Technique involves use of metal structure attached to the negative pole of a direct current source. Positively charged pole is placed near an anode. Both are then submerged in seawater.
  • With this technique the limestone forms at a rate of one inch per year with high mechanical strength, similar to natural coral growth, but accelerated by electricity.