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Environment
and development in coastal regions and in small islands |
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Environment
and development in coastal regions and in small islands |
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Tasks for coastal resources assessments and oil spill sensitivity mapping in the Arab States of the Gulf |
1. Introduction
Coastal resources assessment and oil spill contingency planning in the Gulf are critically important for several reasons including: i) valuable resources are at stake, in particular physical infrastructures (e.g. desalination plants) as well as biological and cultural resources (which often receive less attention); and ii) due to the high volume of offshore oil extraction, processing and transportation the region has a particularly high probability of marine oil spills.
Resource data are a pre-requisite for any aspect of coastal management; oil spill contingency planning is no exception. For these reasons, it is strategically important and cost-effective to make response contingency plans. A further point is that the GCC countries have national environmental legislation and are party to many regional and international obligations. These are not luxuries, but legally binding, contractual obligations. They require (inter alia) that member states assess and minimise impacts on the coastal and marine environment from oil spills and other development pressures. Finally, coastal resources assessment and oil spill contingency planning can help GCC countries adopt principles of inter-generational equity environmental principles linked to Sharia law.
One of several catalysts for this project was ERWDA's (Abu Dhabi) successful completion of protection priority index maps as a digital and hardcopy atlas. UNESCO sees merit scaling up the exercise by assisting other GCC countries develop similar maps.
Determine the possible roles that UNESCO might play in supporting nationwide coastal resources assessment and oil spill sensitivity mapping (i.e. to assist with planning the management of immediate spill response - but not shore cleanup) in GCC countries.
Determine individual country needs and formulate a regional perspective through formal meetings and informal discussions with representatives from various national environmental agencies and organisations; and related to this:
Identification of possible areas for UNESCO support and collaboration in relation to coastal resources assessment and oil spill sensitivity mapping.
Develop project concept summaries for the main areas identified during the mission.
Determine capacity and interest in establishing coastal and marine biosphere reserves (the Arabian Peninsula being the only major region of the world in which none has yet been established); this provided an additional focus for the mission - but relating to 2 (above) in particular.
This report was prepared following visits by the UNESCO Consultants to the six GCC countries. Dr. Price's input was to all sections of the report, except those parts relating directly or indirectly to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
Assessment of the status and needs of coastal resources assessment and oil spill sensitivity mapping is based on synthesis of evidence gathered during meetings and discussions. These began in Qatar (3 October 2003) and concluded in Saudi Arabia (20 October 2003). The UNESCO Office Doha arranged the meetings in each GCC country in coordination with its respective National Commissions (Annex).
It was only possible to spend one day in each GCC country; however many individuals participated in the consultations (Annex). Within each country the hosting agency extended invitations to relevant institutions, but not all could attend. Hence, the extent of national representativeness and therefore the completeness of the views presented in this report may not be comprehensive, and potentially therefore could differ from official national policy.
Protection priority index maps for oil spill contingency planning are seen as the principal endpoint, or top of a pyramid. Below this is a hierarchy of prerequisite components: national coastal resource datasets; data collection, storage and processing standards; awareness raising guides addressing coastal habitats and their sensitivity to oil spills; as well as capacity building in all areas. Possession of capacity in each of these building blocks was assessed during the visits. A summary of status and needs for the different areas/building blocks is shown in Table 1. The approach was to judge capacity as moderate (+ +), unless there was evidence that (explicitly or implicitly) suggested otherwise, in which case it was scored as 'some' (+) or 'strong' (+ + +).
The rationale for the assessment was that areas where capacity development needs were perceived to be greatest would benefit most from UNESCO input. Conversely, there would be less need for UNESCO support for those aspects of coastal resource assessment and sensitivity mapping in which national capacity is already significant.
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