Resumen de The historical basis and future options for native plant-species in the hyper-arid forests of Abu Dhabi
Wafa Al-Yamani, Lesley Kennedy, Steve Green, Peter D. Kemp, Brent Clothier
His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan is known as the founding father of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) nation. He ruled for 33 years. Sheikh Zayed had a policy vision to ‘Green the Desert’ using arid-forest species. These forests deliver valuable ecosystem services. Irrigation from groundwater was the key for this ‘greening of the desert’. We detail the historical policy-driven development of forests in Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi Emirate now has 242,000 ha of arid forests, comprising 3.5% of Abu Dhabi land area. Some 10% of the Emirate’s groundwater usage is destined for use in forestry. Groundwater in Abu Dhabi has very low recharge rates, and with irrigation “business as usual” it is estimated that usable groundwater reserves will be depleted within 55 years. Groundwater use in forests is 188 Mm3 y−1 and the short-term policy target is to reduce that usage to 37 Mm3 y−1 by end of 2020. A recent policy option has been for the cancellation of irrigation in some low-quality forests, and leaving the trees to die through drought. But, through improved irrigation scheduling that we have developed, we consider that savings of up 50% are possible, so that groundwater usage could be reduced to 94 Mm3 y−1. Then fulfilment of the remaining gap of 57 Mm3 could be met through the application of treated sewage effluent (TSE). It is understood that this amount of TSE is available in Abu Dhabi, although reticulation systems to the forests will need to be put in place. Furthermore, there is competition for this valuable treated-waste resource. Nevertheless, it should be possible through good policies to be able to sustain the remaining arid forests in Abu Dhabi through sustainable irrigation, and the application of TSE, without depleting groundwater stocks.
