Impact of Climate Change on Arab Countries - (IPCC) - Working ...

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ARAB ENVIRONMENT: CLIMATE CHANGE 103 addition, dolphins and whales in international waters were classified in 2000 as critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable and numbered between 11-16 species on the northern coast <strong>of</strong> Morocco and between 6-10 species in the Mediterranean Basin, the coast <strong>of</strong> Mauritania, and the southern coast <strong>of</strong> Morocco (The Atlas <strong>of</strong> Endangered Species, 2005). With the inevitable global phenomenon <strong>of</strong> climate change, freshwater biodiversity in the Arab world will be greatly impacted and many <strong>of</strong> these precious resources will not survive. Table 4b outlines the Arab countries with exceptional large areas designated as wetlands <strong>of</strong> international importance in accordance to the Ramsar Convention. Ornithological diversity constitutes a major asset to the Arab world as well as a high risk area in terms <strong>of</strong> climate change impacts. Many Arab countries lie on important bird migration routes. Djibouti, which is a crossroad in the transcontinental North-South migration corridor, accommodates 1 million birds per year. Mauritania is home to the biggest wader population in the world and millions <strong>of</strong> migratory birds come to the country to stay through the winter months, while the Hawar Islands <strong>of</strong> Bahrain house the largest breeding colony <strong>of</strong> Socotra cormorant in the world. There are many threatened Marine Important Bird Areas in the Middle East including the eastern side <strong>of</strong> the Red Sea along the coastline <strong>of</strong> Saudi Arabia, both Eastern and Western coastlines <strong>of</strong> the Persian Gulf, along the coastline <strong>of</strong> the Gulf <strong>of</strong> Oman and Arabian Sea, along the Mediterranean coastline <strong>of</strong> Lebanon and Palestine, and within the Gulf <strong>of</strong> Aqaba. The number <strong>of</strong> threatened birds classified as critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable in 2004 ranged between 11 and 30 species in all Arab countries except for Lebanon, Libya, Qatar, Sudan, and Tunisia which have between 6 to 10 species recorded as threatened (The Atlas <strong>of</strong> Endangered Species, 2005). The number <strong>of</strong> threatened birds <strong>of</strong> prey classified as critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable in 2000 ranged between 5 and 6 species in Saudi Arabia, 3 to 4 species in Egypt, Morocco, Sudan, Djibouti, Jordan, Palestine, Syria Lebanon, Iraq, UAE, Kuwait, and Yemen, and in the remaining countries between 1 and 2 species (The Atlas <strong>of</strong> Endangered Species, 2005). In terms <strong>of</strong> the TABLE 1 SPECIES NUMBERS ACROSS THE ARAB WORLD Country Plants Animals Algeria 3,164(a) 2,941 (b) Bahrain 195 (b) - Djibouti 826 (b) 1,417 (b) Egypt 2,076 (a) - Iraq - - Jordan 2,100 (a) - Kuwait 234 (a) - Lebanon 3,000 (a) 4,486 (b) Libya 1,825 (a) - Mauritania 1,100 (a) 1,417 (b) Morocco 3,675 (a) - Oman 1,204 (a) - Palestine - - Qatar 371 (b) - Saudi Arabia 2,028 (a) - Somalia 3,028 (a) - Sudan 3,137 (a) - Syria 3,000 (a) 2,518 (b) Tunisia 2,196 (a) 2,244 (b) United Arab Emirates - - Sources: a) United Nations Environment Programme, 2005 (a) ; b) CBD national reports TABLE 2 Abbreviation CR EN VU IUCN THREAT CATEGORIES (2008) Category Critically endangered Endangered Vulnerable number <strong>of</strong> threatened seabirds classified as critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable in 2000 most countries either did not have any data or reported 0 species except for Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Oman, and Yemen which reported between 1 and 2 species (The Atlas <strong>of</strong> Endangered Species, 2005). II. AGRO-BIODIVERSITY AND SMALL ARAB COMMUNITIES The Arab world is home to several Centres <strong>of</strong> Origin (aka Vavilov Centers <strong>of</strong> Diversity) which are geographical areas where a group <strong>of</strong> organisms, either domesticated or wild, first developed their distinctive properties. Until today Vavilov centres are regions where a high diversity <strong>of</strong> wild relatives to various crops can be found, representing the natural relatives <strong>of</strong> domesticated crop
104 CHAPTER 8 ECOSYSTEMS AND BIODIVERSITY TABLE 3 THREATENED SPECIES IN EACH COUNTRY BY TAXONOMIC GROUP Country Mammals Birds Reptiles Amphibians Fishes Mollusks Other Animals Plants Total Invertebrates Algeria 14 11 7 3 23 0 14 72 3 75 Djibouti 8 7 0 0 14 0 50 79 2 81 Egypt 17 10 11 0 24 0 46 108 2 110 Iraq 13 18 2 1 6 0 15 55 0 55 Jordan 13 8 5 0 14 0 49 89 0 89 Kuwait 6 8 2 0 10 0 13 39 0 39 Lebanon 10 6 6 0 15 0 3 40 0 40 Libya 12 4 5 0 14 0 0 35 1 36 Mauritania 14 8 3 0 23 0 1 49 0 49 Morocco 18 10 10 2 31 0 9 80 2 82 Oman 9 9 4 0 20 0 26 68 6 74 Palestine 3 7 4 1 1 0 1 17 0 17 Qatar 2 4 1 0 7 0 13 27 0 27 Saudi Arabia 9 14 2 0 16 0 53 94 3 97 Somalia 14 12 3 0 26 1 50 106 17 123 Sudan 14 13 3 0 13 0 45 88 17 105 Syria 16 13 6 0 27 0 6 68 0 68 Tunisia 14 8 4 1 20 0 7 54 0 54 UAE 7 8 2 0 9 0 16 42 0 42 Yemen 9 13 3 1 18 2 61 107 159 266 Source: IUCN, 2008 plants. Vavillov (1951) identified eight World Centers <strong>of</strong> Diversity <strong>of</strong> cultivated <strong>of</strong> which the Middle East is one <strong>of</strong> the regions identified and it includes interior <strong>of</strong> Asia Minor, all <strong>of</strong> Transcaucasia, Iran, and the highlands <strong>of</strong> Turkmenistan. The total number <strong>of</strong> species in the Mediterranean region is 84 species which falls in third place among the other centres after the Chinese and the Indian Centers with their 137 and 117 species, respectively (Perrino, 1988). The Mediterranean is the centre <strong>of</strong> origin <strong>of</strong> two fruit trees, the olive and carob tree, a large number <strong>of</strong> cultivated vegetables (30), spices (15),oil (6) and many <strong>of</strong> the old varieties <strong>of</strong> forage plants (11) (Perrino, 1988). To ensure the long range success in continuing the evolution <strong>of</strong> genetic resources in the Arab world in response to climate change it is important to protect the diverse ‘ancestral’ genotypes in their country <strong>of</strong> origin from modern agricultural interference, in effect by ‘freezing’ the genetic landscape even to the extent <strong>of</strong> subsidizing ‘primitive’ agro-pastoral systems (Vallianatos, 2006). The responses <strong>of</strong> small communities to climate change by consistently constructing their livelihoods in a generally sustainable approach sometimes deliberately conserving or enhancing species and habitats should be seriously documented and strategically protected. Deliberate conservation <strong>of</strong> biodiversity by small communities is rarely evident for animal prey, particularly large game, whose very mobility <strong>of</strong>ten prevents local control over access and hence diffuses any benefits from restraint. In contrast most cases <strong>of</strong> deliberate conservation apply to plant resources or habitats. Subsistence-based small-scale societies are likely to respond to climate change by pursuing enhancement <strong>of</strong> the resources needed for livelihood and allocating subsistence efforts to the most rewarding areas and resources currently available. These choices will <strong>of</strong>ten have the effect <strong>of</strong> conserving habitats and biodiversity being impacted by climate change but they will not necessarily be designed to do so and may at times have the opposite consequence (Smith and Wishnie, 2000). III. SHIFTS IN SPECIES DISTRIBUTION RANGES IN RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE The Arab world harbours native species that tol-
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Arab Environment: Climate</
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ARAB ENVIRONMENT: CLIMATE CHANGE II
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ARAB ENVIRONMENT: CLIMATE CHANGE IX
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XII INTRODUCTION A number o
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XIV INTRODUCTION nology cooperation
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XVI INTRODUCTION The respondents to
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XVIII INTRODUCTION activities based
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XX INTRODUCTION by climate change.
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XXII INTRODUCTION REGIONAL CLIMATE
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CHAPTER 1 1 Arab Public Opinion and
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ARAB ENVIRONMENT: CLIMATE CHANGE 3
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CHAPTER 2 13 GHG Emissions: Mitigat
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CHAPTER 3 31 A Remote Sensing Study
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CHAPTER 4 47 Impact</strong
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156 ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS CNA
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158 ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS MENA
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