Ministry of Environment and Water hosts regional workshop on Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas

April 20, 2015: The Ministry of Environment and Water hosted a regional workshop on Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas (EBSA) in the North-Western Indian Ocean and the neighboring Gulf region in cooperation with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in the Regional Office for Western Asia of the United Nations Environment Programme, the Office of Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals - Abu Dhabi, the Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, the Regional Organization for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) which aimed to identify important marine areas in the region.

The workshop was attended by representatives from the UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom of Bahrain, Iraq, Iran, Egypt and Jordan, Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Eritrea, Pakistan, India and Maldives and many other international and regional organaizations. The workshop will held on April 19 to 25, 2015, at the City Season suites Hotel. The move to host the workshop comes as part of the UAE’s commitment to encouraging international environmental conventions that are aimed at conserving biodiversity and promoting environmental sustainability.

H.E. Eng. Mariam Saeed Hareb, Assistant Undersecretary of Water Resources and Nature Conservation, stated that biodiversity conservation is a key pillar in promoting environmental sustainability in the state. This initiative is also a strategic priority for the ministry as part of UAE vision 2021. She noted that the UAE plays an instrumental role at the global level in supporting relevant international conventions, including the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), actively participating in and organizing international conferences and workshops, and developing and applying innovative solutions to conserve biodiversity and sustainability.

She explained that hosting a regional workshop on Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas (EBSA) in the North-Western Indian Ocean and the Gulf region highlights nationwide efforts to promote environmental protection and sustainability in support of international initiatives for species and habitats conservation.

The workshop aimed to identify significant environmental and biological marine areas based on the criteria established during the 9th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The criterias for the identification of ecological or biological marine areas highlight the importance of protecting the open oceans and high seas. The standards characterize areas based on uniqueness or rarity, putting particular importance on the stages and phases of a species’ life cycle. The criteria also take into account the importance of the region to endangered species, the degradation of habitats noting their weaknesses and fragility, as well as their sensitivity, biological productivity, biological diversity, and other natural features.