Abu Dhabi uses technology to help track waterbirds and preserve vital wetlands

Environment Agency Abu Dhabi is supporting the development of an online portal to track waterbirds, which will also help to identify new wetland sites.

The portal will soon be launched by Wetlands International and will be available to the public. The announcement follows a conference in Dubai last month dedicated to preserving wetlands.

During the Ramsar Conference, Jebel Ali Wetland Sanctuary near Ras Ghantoot was recognised as a globally significant conservation site. The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands is a global conservation agreement that recognises more than 2,200 sites as wetlands of international importance – eight of them are in the UAE.

A wetland is considered internationally important if it supports 1 per cent of a waterbird species population.

“Governments of the Ramsar Convention worldwide need upto-date information on waterbirds to identify, designate and manage wetlands,” said Jane Madgwick, chief executive of Wetlands International.

“Wetlands International is delighted to receive the generous support from the Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi. We look forward to develop the portal in the very near future.”

The portal is expected hold data on about 800 waterbird species. It will be the first time population estimates will be available online.

Among the birds that migrate to the UAE’s wetlands every year are thousands of flamingos. About 300,000 waterbirds visit the country during spring and autumn.

Wetlands can help to ease floods and stop pollution.

“The world is evolving rapidly,” said Salem Al Dhaheri, an executive at Environment Agency Abu Dhabi

“Our changing habits and lifestyles are having an enormous impact on our coastal and inland wetland environments.

“The ability to monitor current and readily available data on species native to these habitats, such as waterbird population estimates, would allow decision-makers to take critical action towards the protection and conservation of wetlands.”

There has not been a proper review of the global population estimates of wetland species since 2012.

The UAE is one of only two countries in the region to regularly carry out the “international waterbird census”, which is co-ordinated by the agency.