The selected issue is centered around the problem of biodiversity in the UAE. Biodiversity is among the most important aspects of the environment, and thus, it is important to ensure that any ecosystem has high levels of it. The main problem with biodiversity preservation revolves around the fact that human activity generally shrinks the human-free territory available for other animal species. Therefore, it is evident that many members of flora and fauna experience a decline in their population rate and even extinction. Such processes lead to the notion that only a small subset of animals and plant life are capable of adapting to the new changing environment driven by human activity, which leads to the state where wildlife of certain territories is represented by only a handful of species of animals and plants. This can be called a decline in biodiversity, where only a few populations can survive in such conditions, and many others are either driven to extinction or become endangered.
By the decision of the United Nations, 2010 was declared the International Year of Biodiversity. By this decision, the UN seeks to draw the attention of the world community and the leaders of all countries to the protection and rational use of natural resources (“2010 Biodiversity Target,” 2010). The global policy was in tune with UAE’s stance on the issue. Overuse of freshwater, energy resources, massive deforestation, modern agricultural practices, and other human activities have a devastating impact on the natural environment, leading to a reduction in biodiversity on the planet. Today, more than 7 thousand species of animals and almost 60 thousand species of plants are under threat of extinction (Tilman et al., 2017). The work was carried out to disseminate knowledge about the importance of biodiversity conservation among the general population: schoolchildren and students, workers and leaders of various industries and agriculture, politicians, and pensioners. The fact is that ecosystems and populations of living organisms inhabiting the planet cannot exist when the lower threshold or limit of biodiversity is reached.
The danger of a decrease in biodiversity also lies in the fact that in this case, there is a significant reduction in the production of eco-system services, which include climate regulation, a decrease in the frequency and power of natural hazards, soil formation, natural waste disposal, water, and atmospheric air purification, creation of ecological niches for various animals, fungi, plants, microorganisms and some others (Marselle et al., 2019). Today, the cost of ecosystem services is not included in financial and economic calculations. This leads to the fact that the political leadership and the population of many countries, including the United Arab Emirates, do not have a true understanding of the state of the economy and ecosystems. An increase in the frequency of anomalous natural phenomena leads, in general, to a decrease in the possibility of self-regulation of the biosphere of the entire planet. With a high frequency of anomalous phenomena, the biota of the planet can pass into another state that is not entirely acceptable for humanity.
The policy is the National Biodiversity Strategy of UAE, which focuses on biodiversity preservation and protection. It is stated that “this strategy is primarily aimed at addressing the underlying causes of biodiversity loss by integrating biodiversity values across all sectors of the country, reducing direct pressures on biodiversity and promoting sustainable use” (“National Biodiversity Strategy,” 2021). In other words, it is a systematic and comprehensive approach to eliminating or reducing the direct causal factor of biodiversity loss in the key regions of the UAE.
The core statement of the policy is centered around addressing underlying biodiversity pressures through several strategic objectives. The five key elements of the National Biodiversity Strategy include the integration of biodiversity concepts into all sectors and society segments, strengthening the knowledge base and capacity-building for the conservation and management of biodiversity, and improving the state of biodiversity by protecting habitats, species, and genetic diversity, and rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems, decreasing pressures on land and marine environments and strengthening cooperation and coordination at the local, regional and international levels in biodiversity-related areas (“National Biodiversity Strategy,” 2021).
The first rule to support the policy is based on raising awareness of the majority of UAE citizens. It is stated that by 2021, the objective is to ensure that the message is reached by at least 75% of the nation’s population (“National Biodiversity Strategy,” 2021). Any new regulation or policy is assessed in its impact on biodiversity. Critically important ecosystems and coastal lines are becoming managed effectively through budgetary and human resource allocations. It is stated that to support the policy, important programs are integrated to improve the status of 70% of threatened species (“National Biodiversity Strategy,” 2021).
Historically, the issue of biodiversity is tightly tied with the idea of cultural heritage. It is stated that “it became one of the most priority issues that received early and personal attention by the late father of Nation, Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan” (“National Biodiversity Strategy,” 2021). In other words, there were no debates over the issue since it was prioritized since the UAE’s origins. The most impacted by the policy is comprised wildlife inhabiting various regions of UAE. Although there is no information on precise budgetary allocations in regards to biodiversity programs, it is estimated to be within AED 8.46 billion range expense (“The federal budget for the fiscal year 2020 amounts to AED 61.35 billion,” 2021). In other words, the efforts undertaken have an economic impact, but the main reasons are more focused on cultural heritage.
Sustainable development of the country largely depends on the level of conservation of biological resources, which are the basis for the existence and development of human society. As a result of the constantly increasing anthropogenic impact on the environment, the stocks and populations of many plant and animal species are rapidly decreasing. The UAE and developed countries have a different experiences in the theoretical substantiation and implementation of environmental monitoring of biological resources. The strong point of the UAE’s experience in the field of environmental monitoring is a systematic approach to assessing the state of biological resources, which was reflected in the development of documentation for the creation of a unified state system of environmental monitoring.
However, the existing UAE’s National Biodiversity Strategy policy is not focused on monitoring the environmental and economic efficiency of ongoing environmental projects and programs, which will also have an economic impact. Analysis of the current situation shows that in the country, as in many other countries, there is still no systemic, objective, and reliable data on the state, protection, and reproduction of natural resources, and their ecological and economic potential. There is no necessary and relevant information about the objects and subjects of biological resource management. The process of development and implementation of monitoring works in UAE’s National Biodiversity Strategy is only included in generally accepted practice as a means of environmental protection management and rational use of natural resources. In this direction, there are many problems, both theoretical, methodological, and practical, since the main focus of environmental monitoring work is to use their results in social production, nature management, environmental protection, and other areas (Maiti & Maiti, 2017). As a result, such efforts should give the opportunity to purposefully manage natural resources, including biological, taking into account the economic interests of the development of society.
However, such a mechanism has not yet been developed in the case of the National Biodiversity Strategy, except for improving legislative norms and general recommendations. It follows from this that certain indicators of environmental monitoring should be assessed by economic parameters. The combination of environmental and economic indicators is the very management mechanism that should fit into monitoring systems when assessing the state of environmental parameters of biodiversity. Ecological and economic monitoring is an information system for observing, assessing, and forecasting changes in the state of the environment using environmental and socio-economic parameters, created to highlight the anthropogenic component of these changes against the background of natural processes. It should be aimed at systemic assessment, analysis, management decisions, and forecasting (Maiti & Maiti, 2017). Only a coupled analysis of the dynamics of natural biological components and anthropogenic impacts of an ecological and economic nature can provide objective information about the state and possible negative or positive changes, manage these processes and improve the nature management strategy.
References
2010 Biodiversity Target. (2010). Web.
Maiti, P. K., & Maiti, P. (2017). Biodiversity. PHI.
Marselle, M. R., Stadler, J., Korn, H., Irvine, K. N., & Bonn, A. (2019). Biodiversity and health in the face of climate change. Springer.
National Biodiversity Strategy. (2021). Web.
The federal budget for fiscal year 2020 amounts to AED 61.35 billion. (2021). Web.
Tilman, D., Clark, M., Williams, D. R., Kimmel, K., Polasky, S., & Packer, C. (2017). Future threats to biodiversity and pathways to their prevention.Nature, 546(7656), 73–81. Web.