Wednesday 15 / January / 2025
Muscat: More than 400,000 invasive birds were eliminated as of January 23, 2024 as part of the National Campaign to Combat Invasive Birds project, the Environment Authority said.
In its press conference entitled “Environmental Harvest for the Year 2023,” the Environment Agency reviewed the most prominent projects, initiatives, achievements, environmental performance indicators, and numbers achieved during the past year.
The Environment Authority emphasised the launch of many projects to protect, preserve and sustain natural resources to save and rehabilitate wildlife of all kinds, and projects to propagate it in the local environment through modern scientific methods.
The Authority clarified that the project to establish a gene bank to preserve the genetic assets of wild animals has economic value by freezing it off-site to ensure its sustainability for 3 years.
"The number of sites surveyed in the National Biodiversity Survey Project is 714, the number of species documented is 40, and the area surveyed is 26,600 km2, a percentage of 75 percent, " the Authority said.
"There is a noticeable improvement in the tree cover area in Dhofar Governorate compared to 1994 by 5.09 percent, and the land area within the forest percentage survey study project reached 6.8 percent to reduce the growing phenomenon of desertification in the mountains of the governorate."
The Environment Authority said :" 442,440 invasive birds, including 369,576 mynas and 72,864 crows, were eliminated as of January 23, 2024 as part of the National Campaign to Combat Invasive Birds project."
According to the Authority, The “National Annual Programme for Monitoring Pollutants in the Marine Environment” project aims to assess the quality of seawater and bottom sediments and identify sources of pollutants, in 19 sites in coastal governorates. Among its most prominent results is a slight increase in the element mercury in the bottom sediments (Muscat and Al Wusta), monitoring a small percentage of the concentration of cadmium in the Wilayat of Duqm (less than the global standard concentration by a small percentage), and an increase in the concentration of the elements chromium, aluminium, nickel and iron in the bottom sediments in the north of the Sultanate (ophiolite flow).
EA said, "The “Marine Mammal Species Survey in Musandam Governorate” project aims to determine their types and areas of distribution in the governorate. Two types of them were seen 19 times, and 3 awareness campaigns and two introductory workshops were held about the project, which lasted 3 years. 17 individuals were also trained in surveying work."
" 8 projects were implemented in the category of protecting the environment from pollution, which are: the project “Inventorying radioactive sources and all those dealing with them and preparing a complete database regarding them,” the project “National Chemicals Management Strategy,” the “National Waste Management Register Project,” and the “Study of Mercury and its Compounds” project, the “National Inventory Project for Hazardous and Non-hazardous Waste,” the project “Establishing a Water and Soil Monitoring System,” the project “Study of Noise Levels in Public Places in the North and South Batinah Governorates ", and the project “Study and evaluation of the current status of the efficiency of combustion burners in industrial establishments and concession areas (first phase)”."
EA confirmed that the National Zero Neutrality Program (for the projects category) plays the role of monitoring the path of the main sectors, namely oil, gas, electricity, industry, transportation, cities, and buildings, to reach zero neutrality, balance between environmental sustainability and social and economic impact, and ensure a reduction in the cost of energy and security of supplies.
"Within the framework of the 10 million tree planting project, the number of wild trees planted reached more than (132,980) trees, and the total number of seeds planted reached 11, 126,876 trees, while the total number of environmental violations reached 603 violations, 518 complaints, and 88 reports to the Environmental Emergency Center, " Environment Authority added.
