The Environment Protection and Development Authority in Ras Al Khaimah has attached great importance to mangroves due to the role they play as natural habitats for marine organisms and fish and the nesting areas of local and migratory birds in the lagoons and wetlands.

The authority has begun work on a project to establish a nursery for the cultivation of mangroves, in conjunction with the declaration of the Khor Muzahmi Reserve as a nature reserve, as these seedlings are distributed on the various coasts of the emirate as well as increasing the area of ​​vegetation in the reserve. This project is implemented annually during the period between August and September. Which is considered one of the Authority’s most prominent projects in the reserve because mangroves represent a nursery environment for young fish.

The mangrove plant covers an estimated proportion of the area of ​​the lagoons in Ras Al Khaimah, especially the Al-Muzahmi Reserve, as the results of these studies confirmed the region’s need to rehabilitate the degraded ecosystems and ensure the restoration of threatened and sensitive species, including the cultivation of the mangrove plant and the restoration of the settlement of the fish eagle as the authority seeks to raise the level of Environmental awareness in the emirate and strengthening its awareness programs with the aim of spreading knowledge among the largest number of community members and promoting its strategic objectives represented by the participation of community sectors in environmental monitoring and awareness.

The mangrove plant is one of the shore plants that grows at the border between the sea and the land in hot and tropical regions and is distinguished by its ability to resist difficult environmental conditions that most other plants cannot face. It is a plant that participates in the formation of an integrated ecological and biological system as it provides shelter for migratory birds that feed in the fertile environment. It is rich in types of crusty and shell marine life such as crabs and shellfish species, and small fish shelter between the roots of mangroves. These roots also play an essential role in stabilizing the soil of muddy beaches to protect it from erosion, just as fish prefer to resort to it when laying their eggs.

Gray mangroves are one of the types of mangroves, and they are the most important shore plants that grow in abundance on the coasts of the United Arab Emirates and that live on salt water and around the world there are about 80 species of these plants belonging to 18 species and 23 genera distributed around the tropical and subtropical regions of the world.

The mangrove is a standing tree up to 11 meters in height and most of its leaves are opposite, lanceolate to oval and sharp-top, with a light-faded color from the bottom on which there are many salt crystals and flowers with a round top. You see these shrubs usually surrounded by vertical standing plants without leaves that resemble stems emerging from the respiratory roots in order to provide them. With oxygen, and it helps Crimea adapt to this extremely salty, oxygen-scarce environment.

The Environment Protection and Development Authority in Ras Al Khaimah organized a number of activities in support of the marine environment as an initiative that is the first of its kind at the level of the emirate that included planting about 640 mangrove trees inside the Khor Al-Muzahmi Reserve within the framework of initiatives to support the sustainability of fish wealth and in line with the Ras Al Khaimah Government 2030 strategy aimed at achieving sustainability and strengthening For the Authority’s strategic objectives, which include the protection of biodiversity and natural habitats in the emirate.

Earlier, the authority hosted a group of school students, where 500 mangroves were planted in Khor Al-Muzahmi Reserve, as these initiatives contributed to consolidating the original values ​​of students and rooting them in the emerging generations, in order to complement the role of the Ras Al Khaimah government in preserving a sustainable environment through the application of ideas and initiatives. That contribute to and enhance creativity and innovation in all fields, especially the environment.



WAM / Muhammad al-Sharji / Mustafa Badr al-Din