June 22, 2023: As coral reefs in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman face threats, restoration efforts are underway in the United Arab Emirates. What are Coral Reefs and what's the big deal? Read the ReferencePepper!
Since 2021, when reefs off the United Arab Emirates' coast experienced their second bleaching event in just five years, the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, or EAD, has been rehabilitating and restoring corals. In a nation that has come under fire for its large-scale developments and polluting industries that harm underwater ecosystems, the EAD project is one of many initiatives, both public and private, to protect the reefs and marine life that depends on them. Although there has been some progress, experts remain concerned about the future of reefs in the face of global warming.
But first, what are Coral Reefs?
Simply explained: Coral reefs are like underwater cities made up of tiny animals called coral polyps. These polyps secrete a hard calcium carbonate skeleton that builds up over time, creating large and complex structures. Coral reefs are incredibly diverse, with many different types of corals, fish, and other marine species calling them home. They are often referred to as "rainforests of the sea" because of their high biodiversity. Coral reefs are not just important for marine life, but also for people. They provide livelihoods to local communities through fishing and tourism, and they are also important for climate regulation, as they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and act as natural buffers against storms. However, coral reefs are facing threats from climate change, pollution, and other human activities, which are causing coral bleaching and decline in reef health. It's important for us to protect and preserve coral reefs to ensure their survival and the well-being of marine ecosystems and human communities that depend on them.
Why all the excitement? What's the big deal about Coral Reefs?
Coral reefs are critically important due to their exceptional biodiversity, economic value, climate regulation, and conservation significance. They support a staggering array of marine species, provide livelihoods to local communities through fishing and tourism, act as carbon sinks that help mitigate climate change, and serve as indicators of the health of our oceans. Coral reefs are also culturally significant to many coastal communities around the world. Protecting and preserving coral reefs is crucial for the well-being of both marine life and human populations, making their conservation of utmost importance for present and future generations.
- Biodiversity: Coral reefs are home to an incredibly diverse range of marine species, making them one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet. Many of these species are still unknown to science, so every new discovery helps to increase our understanding of the natural world.
- Economic value: Coral reefs provide important economic benefits to local communities through fisheries, tourism, and other industries. The discovery of new reefs can potentially open up new opportunities for sustainable economic development.
- Climate change: Coral reefs are also important for their role in mitigating climate change. They absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and provide a habitat for marine organisms that help to regulate the ocean's temperature and chemistry. The discovery of new coral reefs can help us better understand how these ecosystems function and how they can be protected.
- Conservation: Finally, the discovery of coral reefs can help to highlight the importance of conservation efforts. Coral reefs are under threat from a range of human activities, including overfishing, pollution, and climate change. By discovering new reefs, we can better understand the extent of the problem and work towards finding solutions to protect these important ecosystems.
Photo by Shifaz Abdul Hakkim on Unsplash and Dave Burdick
Back to the main article
Marine scientist Hamad al-Jailani carefully examined the corals packed in a box of seawater from the reef nursery on a boat off the coast of an island near Abu Dhabi to ensure that they have not lost their colour.
The nursery provides corals with the ideal environment for regrowth: clear waters with sufficient sunlight and strong currents. Al-Jailani intermittently looks at the corals' development, eliminates any possibly destructive seaweed and seagrass, and even allows the fish to feed off the corals to clean them, until they're sufficiently solid to be moved.
Al-Jailani, who is a part of the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi's coral restoration program, stated, “We try to grow them from very small fragments up to — now some of them have reached — the size of my fist.”
The corals were bleached in the past. They are now large, in good health, and can be relocated to their original reefs in the hope that they will once again thrive.
Corals turn white during coral bleaching, which happens when sea temperatures increase and sunlight removes the algae that gives corals their colour. Corals are resilient to the episodes of coral bleaching, but they are unable to sustain marine life, endangering the communities that depend on them.
Picture source: Photo by Timothy Dykes on Unsplash
The UAE lost up to 70% of their corals, particularly around Abu Dhabi, in 2017 when water temperatures arrived at 37 degrees Celsius (99 degrees Fahrenheit), as per EAD. Be that as it may, Al-Jailani said 40-50% of corals had endured the second bleaching occasion in 2021.
The bleaching episodes did take away a big chunk of our corals, he admitted, but it did also establish that the corals that we have are actually robust. These corals can actually endure these circumstances.
Bleaching incidents are becoming more frequent as waterways warm as a result of man-made climate change, which is brought on by the combustion of fossil fuels like petrol, coal and oil, which releases gases into the atmosphere that trap heat. Other coral reef systems throughout the world, most notably Australia's Great Barrier Reef, have experienced large-scale bleaching occurrences.
At the United Nations climate conference, which will take place in Dubai later this year, will cover a wide range of topics, including how to reduce global warming and its repercussions.
The UAE is one of the biggest oil producers in the world, and it also has some of the greatest per-capita emissions of greenhouse gases worldwide. Analysts are sceptical about the country's aim to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, which would mean that all carbon dioxide emissions would be reduced or eliminated altogether.
However, the gulf's coral reefs face more than just bleaching as a result of warming temperatures. The U.N. Environment Programme says that the exploitation of marine resources, high oil tanker traffic, activities related to fossil fuels, offshore installations, and marine life are all putting marine life under a lot of stress and making them worse.
Environmentalists have also long criticised the United Arab Emirates, particularly Dubai, for its massive coastal developments and buildings.
The structure of the Palm Jebel Ali, which started over 10 years prior and has been on hold since 2008, caused a clamour among moderates after it apparently obliterated around 8 square kilometres (5 square miles) of reef.
According to John Henrik Stahl, dean of the College of Marine Sciences at Khorfakkan University in Sharjah, UAE, more or less on top of one of the remaining reefs near Dubai, more than 90 million (9 crore) cubic metres of sediments were dredged and dropped.
The goal of the project was to look like the Palm Jumeirah, a collection of small, made-up islands shaped like palm trees off the coast of Dubai.
Nevertheless, environmental projects continue throughout the emirates and along the coastline.
By 2040, Dubai's development company URB plans to plant 1 billion artificial corals over a 200-kilometre (124-mile) area and 10 crore mangrove trees on an 80-kilometre (50-mile) stretch of beaches.The project, which is still in the research and development phase, aims to develop 3D printing technology for materials that can host algae, similar to corals.
The diving community in Dubai is also supporting efforts to protect coral. Diving course director Amr Anwar is currently making a confirmed coral rebuilding course that shows divers how to gather and yet again plant corals that have fallen subsequent to being knocked off by diver’s blades or a boat’s anchor.
Anwar stated, “I don't want people to see broken corals and just leave them like that.” They would be able to take the broken corals they find and plant them elsewhere with the assistance of our training, observing their growth and progress.
Yet, specialists say that except if the danger of overheating oceans brought about by environmental change is tended to, coral dying occasions will keep on happening, harming reefs around the world.
Since pre-industrial times, nations have pledged to limit the global average temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). After that, the scientists said that the effects of the planet’s warming could be much worse, and some could even be irreversible. However, according to analysts, most nations, including the United Arab Emirates, are still far off that goal.
The scientist from Khorfakkan University, Stahl, stated, “You have to make sure that the cause for the degradation of the coral reefs in the first place is no longer a threat. Otherwise, the effort to restore the building may be in vain.”