|Biosphere Reserve Information|
The Reserve constitutes one single land management unit, the Al Reem Biosphere Reserve. The landscape in the Reserve is generally flat to wavy with some prominent hills and the stark-relief mesas of the Zekreet peninsula. Land elevation ranges between 0m to 60m above sea level. Saline swampy mud flats are common along the coastal areas, while rocky elevations and gravel plains are mostly found in the inland parts of the reserve. Notable features include elevated limestone formations (the Dukhan anticline) along the west coast under which lies the Dukhan oil field. The Reserve has no rivers, and other than occasional rainfall, the primary source of fresh water is fossil ground water. Surface water is very limited and may be seen in depressions and wadis for a short time only after a good winter rainfall.
The human population inhabiting the Reserve was derived from the National Census of 2004, and was broken down as follows: Core Area (400-500), Buffer Zone (~8,000) and Transition Areas (~5,900). Within the core and buffer areas the population gender breakdown was approximately 25% female to 75% male, while that in the transition zone was approximately 30% female to 70% male.
Major contemporary activities by local inhabitants of the Reserve include farming, tending herds of camels and flocks of sheep and goats (being one of the main components of economic development in the country, the agricultural sector in the Qatar is getting a lot of attention from the government, which has been working hard to remove natural obstacles that impede horizontal extension of agriculture by supporting farmers and encouraging national investments in the agricultural sector), artisanal fishing, small-scale trade and commerce, and working in the petroleum industry (since the 1950's oil has rapidly transformed Qatar into a developing country). Several small coastal villages are home to the fishing communities, while the majority of the pastoral/farming communities are located in the northeast of the Reserve. The petroleum industry is based in Dukhan, at the extreme southwest, and up parts of the Zekreet peninsula and all of the Al Ghariyah peninsula.
Communities residing within the Reserve have managed to preserve many of the cultural and religious traditions of the past, while experimenting with modern technology to further their agricultural and pastoral traditions. Large rotary boom water feeders and modern pumping systems bring fossil groundwater to irrigate alfalfa and other fodder materials, while modern veterinary centers promote health and survivorship of traditional camel and goat herds. Breeding centers are reintroducing native fauna such as the Oryx and Gazelles, alongside modern oil and gas pumping stations.
|Major ecosystem type||Arid-Climate Desert|
|Major habitats & land cover types||Desert Gravel Plains, Sand Sheet / Sabkha, Mesa / Foothill|
|Transition area(s) when given||Terrestrial: 46,555 Ha, Marine: 36,931|
|Altitude (metres above sea level)||0-60m|
|Administrative authorities||Supreme Council for the Environment and Natural Reserves|
At present the Reserve is home to a breeding center for native Gazelles and Oryx, and has pioneered reintroduction programmes in the Country. The Reserve offers unparalleled research opportunities for sustainable development and use of arid lands. Potential investigations include the use of saline water for irrigation of halophytes as animals’ fodder, zonation for sustainable grazing, camel farming and culturallysensitive tourism, among others.
|Abiotic||Abiotic factors, air quality, air temperature, climate, drought, erosion, geology, geomorphology, groundwater, habitat, hydrology, meteorology, monitoring/methodologies, pollution, pollutants, soil, topography.|
|Biodiversity||Alien/Invasive/Exotic/Introduced species, arid/semi-arid, biodiversity, biogeography, biology, birds, breeding/reproduction, coastal/marine, community studies/communities, conservation, desertification, ecology, ecosystem functioning/ecosystem structure, fauna, flora, home gardens, invertebrates/insects/spiders, lichens, mammals, mangrove, natural resources, plants, population genetics/population dynamics, productivity, rare/endangered/threatened species, reintroduction, reptiles, restoration/rehabilitation/redevelopment, species inventorying/inventory, taxonomy, vegetation studies/plant cover, wildlife.|
|Socio-economic||Agriculture/Production systems, aquaculture/mariculture, archaeology/paleontology, capacity building, cottage industry/artisanal industry, cultural aspects, economic studies, economically important species, human health, hunting, indigenous people, livelihood measures, livestock and related impacts/overgrazing, local participation, pastoralism/pastoralists/grazing, people-nature relations/man/nature, recreation, resource use, sacred sites, social/socio-economic aspects, tourism, traditional practices/ethnology/traditional knowledge.|
|Integrated monitoring||Carrying capacity/Sustainability, ecosystem approach, geographic information system/gis, infrastructure, institutional and legal aspects, interdisciplinary studies, land tenure, land use/land cover, landscape inventorying/monitoring, management issues, planning and zoning measures/zonation, rural systems, sustainable development/sustainable use, transboundary/transfrontiers.|
Khalid G. Al Ali
PO Box 7634
|Telephone||(974) 443 7171 Ext. 303|
|Fax||(974) 441 5246|
|Last updated: 11/26/2007|