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Identifying coastal and marine priority areas for conservation in the United Arab Emirates

Biodiversity and Conservation volume 29, pages 2967–2983 (2020)Cite this article

A Correction to this article was published on 15 April 2021

This article has been updated

Abstract

The waters of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) host a diversity of marine and coastal habitats that are under increasing pressure from multiple anthropogenic activities related to rapid economic growth. In response, Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) currently cover 12% of the UAE’s coastal and marine zones. The UAE National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan aims to increase the extent of protection to 14% by 2021, a target that exceeds current global commitments. We applied systematic conservation planning to (1) assess whether conservation features (i.e. species and habitats of conservation concern) are adequately represented in the current system of MPAs, and (2) identify complementary coastal and marine priority areas for conservation and management. Eight planning scenarios were produced based on different conservation targets, the inclusion (or not) of existing MPAs in the generated solutions, and the consideration (or not) of dredging (an activity linked with coastal development in the UAE). A gap analysis demonstrated that to achieve the targets set by experts for all conservation features, additional areas would need to be integrated in conservation plans and policies. Key coastal and marine priority areas were consistently selected for conservation across all planning scenarios. The findings of this work provide a basis for the identification of conservation priorities that can be embedded in the current network of MPAs by extending their boundaries, in post-2020 conservation strategies including plans for creating new MPAs, and in broader spatial planning initiatives.

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Data availability

Emirates Nature—WWF provided the data used in this paper.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Her Excellency Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak and Emirates Nature-WWF Board of Directors for their continued support for this project. A special thanks to Her Excellency Dr. Shaikha Salem Al Dhaheri, Secretary General of the Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi, for her advice throughout this project. This work would not have been possible without the close cooperation with local and federal environmental authorities in the UAE: Environmental Agency Abu Dhabi, Dubai Municipality, Ajman Municipality, Ras Al Khaimah Environment Protection and Development Authority (EPDA), Sharjah Environment and Protected Areas Authority, Umm Al Quwain Municipality and Ministry of Climate Change and Environment. We are grateful to these agencies for providing data of their own to augment the results of this work. We thank Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) for its support. Specifically, we are grateful to His Excellency Saif Al Ghais, Secretary General of Ras Al Khaimah—EPDA for his input and advice. In addition, Obaid Al Shamsi, Shahid Khan, Ahmed Al Hashmi, Jane Glavan, Ibrahim A. Bugla, Mohammed Al Tayeb, Junid N. Shah, Jacky Judas, John Pereira, Fadi M. Akram, Brendan Whittington-Jones, Shaikha Hassan Ali AlShehhi, Jimena Rodriguez-Zarate, Amna Al Mansoori, Hind Al Ameri, Timothée Cook, Oli Taylor, Mouaz Hamza, Maitha Al Hameli, Mona Moller, Nicholas Pilcher and Dan Dorfman provided inputs in the project design, workshops, advice and logistics.

Funding

Funding for this work was provided by the Emirates Nature—World Wild Fund in the UAE.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Emirates Nature in association with World Wide Fund (Emirates Nature-WWF), The Sustainable City (main entrance), P.O. Box 454891, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Emna Ben Lamine, Daniel Mateos-Molina & Marina Antonopoulou

  2. Université Côte d’Azur, CNRS, UMR 7035 ECOSEAS, 28 Avenue Valrose, 06108, Nice, France

    Emna Ben Lamine & Sylvaine Giakoumi

  3. Departamento de Ecología e Hidrología, Universidad de Murcia, Campus de Espinardo, 30100, Murcia, Spain

    Daniel Mateos-Molina

  4. Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University Abu Dhabi, PO Box 129188, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    John A. Burt

  5. Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi, Po Box:45553, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    Himansu Sekhar Das & Salim Javed

  6. Department of Biology, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, P.O. Box 15551, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    Sabir Muzaffar

  7. Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Sylvaine Giakoumi

Authors
  1. Emna Ben Lamine
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  2. Daniel Mateos-Molina
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  3. Marina Antonopoulou
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  4. John A. Burt
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  5. Himansu Sekhar Das
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  6. Salim Javed
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  7. Sabir Muzaffar
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Contributions

Study design: SG, DMM, MA; running analysis: EBL, SG; data: DMM, JAB, HSD, SJ, SM; writing: EBL, SG, DMM, JAB, MA, SJ.

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Correspondence to Daniel Mateos-Molina.

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Communicated by Angus Jackson.

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This article belongs to the Topical Collection: Coastal and marine biodiversity.

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Lamine, E.B., Mateos-Molina, D., Antonopoulou, M. et al. Identifying coastal and marine priority areas for conservation in the United Arab Emirates. Biodivers Conserv 29, 2967–2983 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-020-02007-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-020-02007-4

Keywords

  • Systematic conservation planning
  • Marine protected areas
  • Dredging
  • Expert knowledge
  • Gap analysis
  • Conservation priorities

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