Geography Of The United Arab Emirates Environmental Sciences Essay

The united arab emirates, which lies in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia , is a union of seven emirates : Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain, Ras al-Khaimah and Fujairah. It is situated in Asia and is bordered by the Arabian Gulf from the north, Omman from the east, Sudi Arabia from both west and south sides. It also faces the Gulf of Omman from the northeast, Qatar from the northwest. The coastline, that runs along the Arabian gulf and the gulf of oman, is about 1,318 kilometers long. This makes Dubai, the pearl of the Gulf, a very important commercial centre.

The total area of the United Arab Emirates is about 77.700 squares kilometers. The largest emirate is Abu Dhabi and the smallest one is Ajman.

The country is mostly desert in the south and west areas with sand dunes, salt flats and some oases while the trucial coast has shallow seas, reefs, sandbars and islets. The only mountains in the emirates exist on the east coast in al Fujairah called Al Hajar mountains, the land there is suitable for agriculture and has been used for many years.

The UNITED ARAB EMIRATES has no permanent rivers but it has two main important oases.

http://www.United Arab Emiratesinteract.com/docs/An_oasis_in_the_heart_of_Al_Ain/18124.htm

http://www.adach.ae/en/portal/heritage/alain.oasis.aspx

Oases of the United Arab Emirates

The UNITED ARAB EMIRATES has seven oases, two of them are very important and has underground water for permanent use. Al-Ain oasis, which is in Abu Dhabi emirate, is the largest one. This oasis has been developed and protected, people from around the world come to this place to see the date palms, fruit trees and beautiful sites. Since the land there is fertile and water is available, date and fruit production plays a part in the economy of Al Ain city which takes its name from the oasis.

Liwa is another oasis in the emirate of Abu Dhabi and it also attracts tourists.

Land Use of the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Only 0.6% of land is considered arable, 2.3% is planted to permenant crops and about 720 square kilometers are irrigated.

http://www.dubaidreams.net/562/about/animals-birds-plants-flowers-and-trees-dubai/

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/615412/United-Arab-Emirates/257038/Plant-and-animal-life

http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-187664317/deal-protect-birds-prey.html

http://www.epa.ae/philately/Philately-Stamps/UNITED ARAB EMIRATES-Stamps-Information.asp?TextFile=Y0509T

Animals and plans in the United Arab Emirates

The desert of the United Arab Emirates contains plants like shrubs, trees and bushes that are found in different places.The Ghaf is the most found tree in the United Arab Emirates. Trees in the United Arab Emirates have been used traditionally in areas related to health and medicines. Types of desert plants are Leptadenia pyrotechnica, Lycium shawii, Calotropis procera, Prosopis cineraria and Zizyphus spina-christi.

The desert that surrounds Dubai has plans like wild grasses and date palms. Dates is the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES’s main crop. Some plans like acacia and ghaf trees grow near the Western Hajar Mountains. In adittion to the desert, thw plam trees also grows in the gardens and parks within Dubai. In general, the plants growing in the United Arab Emirates are largly affected by the climate and the landscape of the emirates. For example, date plams usually grows near oases . As for animals, there are many like domesticated goats, sheep, and camels, together with cattle and poultry. There are predators in the wildlife such as the caracal, and red foxes. Some large animals also lives in the United Arab Emirates like Arabian oryx and Arabian and Persian gazelles. As well as small animals like the cape hare, lesser jerboa, and many types of gerbil; and a variety of snakes and lizards.

In the waters of the United Arab Emirates lives many types of valuable fish and other kinds of sea creatures, although those creatures are becoming less by time due to human activities.

There have been an identifation of about 13 bird areas in the United Arab Emirates , the most famous one is Khor Kalba on the border of United Arab Emirates-oman. The UNITED ARAB EMIRATES has made efforts to protect birds and has signed a Memorandum of Understanding in abu dhabi in order to protect the important and rare kinds of birds.

http://www.mapsofworld.com/united-arab-emirates/geography/climate.html

Climate of the United Arab Emirates

Climate generally covers the information regarding temperature, humidity, wind, rainfall and other meteorological elements in a specific area over long periods of time. While climate can be compared to weather, weather can be defined as the day to day temperature and the precipitation activity. In general climate is the state of the atmospheric condition of an area over long periods of time.

The United Arab Emirates is famous for its extremely hot and humid summer seasons while the winter seasons are moderate and pleasant. The months from May till September are very hot and the temperature can reach 45 C and exceed it, the months from December till march are comfortable, the average temperature is 28 C in daytime and 14 C at night. At Al Hajar mountains, the temperature is much lower due to the elevation and nature of landscape there.

Climate in the United Arab Emirates is usually sub tropical arid. It tends to be warm in winter while hot and humid in summer. Humidity is very high and can reach more than 85% during summer time. Due to this climate conditions, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES has very little rain, averagely between 100 and 200 millimeters but in some mountainous areas the rainfall reaches 350 millimeters , the rain falls in short large quantities in summer time and the wettest months are February and March.

The UNITED ARAB EMIRATES is characterized with frequent sand and dust storms which reduce visibility and cause problems such as blocking ship movements near the shore area. Desalinization can make up for the lack of fresh water resources . UNITED ARAB EMIRATES faces environmental problems such as desertification and beach pollution caused by oil spills.

Dry northerly wind blows on the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES and it usually cools the air unless it was loaded with dust. There is also the eastern wind which is known to be short-term and humid. The UNITED ARAB EMIRATES becomes foggy in coastal areas because the air is saturated with water

Climate can affect a lot of aspects on the planet such as the human health, plants and animals:

Climate effects on human health:

Climate changes can affect the planets’ geological, biological and ecological systems, and one of the important effects is on the human health, climate changes has let to large scale environmental hazards that affects the human health, and one of the most important ones is the depletion of the ozone layer, pressure on the food producing systems and the spread of the infectious diseases.

Climate effects on Plants:

Climate change can affect plants not only humans, the increase in temperature causes the plants to grow less than they are supposed to and produce less crops, and as the temperature becomes higher and higher the plants produce less and less till they stop producing due to the extreme heat. Changes in climate can have a positive side to it too, as in the colder areas when the temperature increases more plants will be able to grow for longer periods and produce more crops. Due to the fast change in the climate nowadays plants will have to adapt faster and more rapidly than they had to do before. Another effect on plants is drought (reduces rainfall). The availability of water can affect the production of crops directly.

Climate effects on Animals:

climate change can effect animals in extremely negative ways. Any changes in the environment in which an animal lives can drastically affect their lives as they are adapted to certain conditions. Mostly, its going to be those animals that are not easily able to adapt, specifically those that are endemic to a certain part of the world and those that are not very mobile species.

Also, plants are an important part of animals life cycles. There are many animals that have evolved in a way that follows the life cycle of plants. A perfect example of this is pollinators and the flowers that they pollinate. If the flowers bloom before their pollinators are physiologically prepared this could cause a massive upset to the ecological system.

http://www.atmosphere.mpg.de/enid/266.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/UNITED ARAB EMIRATES.pdf

http://www.United Arab Emirates.ii5ii.com/showthread.php?t=51632

tourism

Due to the beautiful landscapes of the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES tourists come mostly during winter months from around the world. They come by car, plane or ship especially to visit Dubai which is known to be an excellent host with luxurious hotels including the world’s tallest hotel. There are many projects being planned to be built in the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES.

Some changes have been made in the waters of the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES to make such projects possible as in Al Nakhla project in Jumera. This project was named Al-Nakhla, which means plam, because it was created to look like a palm. It goes from Jumera beach for about 300 meters inside the gulf.

The work began in 2002 with land reclamation and purification of soil to prepare the ground for building, which was introduced in 2006 , when the reclamination phase was finished, phase two began with implementation of the infrastructure in the project, bridges where used to connect the islands with the land with the rest of the palm shape. This proves the natural and man-made changing happening to the land and water of the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES.

http://mcgsc.usgs.gov/publications/United Arab Emirates_poster.pdf

Changing of UNITED ARAB EMIRATES landscape

The landscape of the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES is under significant change. Through the use of irrigation and agricultural programs over the last 20 years or so, the country has transformed large amounts of sand desert into areas of green land vegetation and forests. While providing vegetables and animal fodder for the country. This action of greening is also affecting the groundwater resources, like draw-down of the water table, contamination of the ground water by agri-chemicals and land surface subsidence.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES-DESERTIFICATION:

Control policy proves successful

Att.Editors: The following item is by the United Arab Emirates news agency(WAM)

ABU DHABI, May 16 (WAM) – The United Arab Emirates (UNITED ARAB EMIRATES) desertification control and land reclamation policies have proven to have yielded fruit with the plantation of thousands of hectares of palm trees, woodlands and green belts, according to a recent report by the Abu Dhabi Municipality.

“The UNITED ARAB EMIRATES’s efforts in this regard are one of the most successful experiences in the Arab and Gulf region in particular and at the global level in general,” the report, issued by Abu Dhabi Municipality’s Forestry Section said.

The most important advantage of the desertification control policy, the report adds, is the transformation of the desert from a once repulsive barren land into an area that has much appeal for inhabitants to live in.

“The nomadic and unsettled lifestyle of people has changed into a settled one with the economic, health, social and educational patterns also changing accordingly,” the report notes.

It draws attention to the fact that the strategy of growing forests in vast areas of land in the heart of the desert has provided habitat for man, flora and fauna, especially the once endangered wild animals such as rabbits, foxes and gazelles, which have considerably proliferated.

New species of gazelle, namely the white deer and the Arabian Oryx, and other wild birds, such as falcons, doves and sparrows have been introduced, the report maintains. Laws barring hunting and shooting of animals and birds have been enacted in a bid to save these species from extinction.

The Forestry section, the report says, is currently engaged in several projects such as Abu Dhabi-Zayed City highway, Ghayathy-Bida’a Zayed road and afforestation of the 140 km-long Hamim-Abu Dhabi road.

The Municipality’s Forestry section is busy fencing 200 kilometers of land to be used as sanctuaries in the Western region. This is over and above the 51 already existing natural reserves in the region, the report emphasizes.

The Abu Dhabi Municipality, the report points out, has been successful in planting several forests in the Emirate such as the 1500-hectare forest in Liwa and another 90-hectare one in Shamkhah. The aim of planting these forests and green belts, the report stresses, is to hold back desertification, improve environment and preserve endangered flora and fauna.

Researches are being conducted to introduce new species of trees following the successful introduction of the jojoba tree in the region, the report points. (WAM)