MECA targets 15 per cent of Oman under ‘protected areas’

The Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs (MECA) is now planning to bring 15 per cent of the country under the category of ‘protected areas’ and has already identified these areas.

As of now, around five per cent of the total area of Oman comes under this category and the ministry is hopeful of raising the figure close to the desired by this year.

Speaking to Muscat Daily, Ali al Kiyumi, director general of nature conservation at MECA, said, “Our top priorities are Salalah and Jebel Akhdar and we are working on the proposed new areas, which would lie between Musandam and Salalah.”

The target is to have a minimum of 15 per cent of the total area of Oman as ‘protected’, according to the commitment to the Community for Biological Diversity (CBD).

To date, there are 14 named protected areas in the country, with more than 60 being proposed to be included in the system. “There is need for more in Dakhliyah and Sharqiyah governorates,” he added.

Recognising the importance of development and environment and finding long-term solutions for several environmental problems that have resulted from the development that GCC has witnessed, the supreme council of GCC has adopted ‘Common policies and principles for environment protection’.

“Our national law on nature conservation and environment protection, which is very stringent is already in place and so the GCC legislations would serve as a guideline,” said Kiyumi. A regional strategy for protecting the environment and its natural resources is also being worked on.

This document will serve as the base for developing environmental work strategies for the GCC in the future as there are several similarities in the environmental and developmental conditions of the GCC and Oman.

Policies also include raising awareness about environmental issues and inculcating a sense of responsibility for environment protection. As part of the implementation process of these policies, those responsible for environmental issues have adopted the first work plan that includes surveys, besides identifying mutual, interrelated and similar environmental problems in the GCC.

“Eighty per cent of the factors responsible for destroying the environment are induced and these include over-grazing, off-road driving besides felling of trees,” he said.

The ministry in its efforts to protect the country’s lands has initiated a system to reduce off-road driving in few places. “Off-road driving leads to land destruction and so we have in certain places built parking slots and made elevated barriers so that people cannot go off-road,” he added.

"Loss and degradation of habitat, poaching, pollution, and accidents have endangered some of the country’s fauna while erosion, salt intrusion in agricultural lands, pollutants from oil as well as invasive species have threatened the flora.”