**7. Conclusions and conservation recommendations**

This Chapter reports the rapid change from 1967 for the Arabian Gulf coastline of Saudi Arabia and highlights the development trends and land use changes until 2010 within the

Anthropogenic Induced Geomorphological Change Along the Western Arabian Gulf Coast 217

keeping with the Bay's environmental uniqueness and values could be undertaken, with the

We acknowledge the contribution to this paper by Abdullah Mah who assisted in identifying and quantifying remnant mangroves in the region; provided data on sabkha; and contributed to the discussion. Saudi Aramco is also acknowledged for its Environmental Protection Program and the dedication of its staff to protect, restore and

AbuZinada, A.H., Robinson, E.R., Nader, I.A. and Al-Wetaid, Y.I. (c2004) *First Saudi Arabian* 

AlNaji, Nassir (-) A Brief Tectonic History of the Arabian Basin, Master's Thesis Extract. http://strata.geol.sc.edu/Nassir-Thesis-SITE/CHAPT04.html accessed 22 April 2009. Barth, Hans-Jörg (2001) Characteristics of the wind regime north of Jubail, Saudi Arabia, based on high resolution wind data. *Journal of Arid Environments*, 47:387-402. Barth, Hans-Jörg (1999) Desertification in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. *Journal of* 

Basson, P.W., Burchard Jr, J.E., Hardy J.T. and Price, A.R.G. (1977) *Biotopes of the Western* 

Brinkhoff, Thomas (2011) City Population Web site www.citypopulation.de Accessed April 2011. Brown, Roger (1986) The Content and Nature of Arabian Gulf Seawater. *Bulletin 29,* 

Chapman, Randolph W. (1971) Climate Change and the Evolution of Landforms in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. *Geological Society of America Bulletin* v 82 p. 2713-2728. Convention on Biological Diversity (2004). Thematic report on protected areas or areas

Davidson-Arnott, Robin (2010) *Introduction to Coastal Processes and Geomorphology*, University

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Evans, J.R. and Abuleif, K.M. (2003) New Kingdom environmental regulations on the way.

Goudie, Andrew and Viles, Heather (2010) *Landscapes and Geomorphology – A Very Short Introduction*, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0-19-956557-3, New York, USA. Hansen, Samantha, Schwartz, Susan, Al-Amri, Abdullah and Rogers, Arthur. (2006)

In *EnviroNews* Issue No. 10 Summer 2003, Aramco Publication, p5.

*Convention on Biological Diversity* website accessed October 2004.

*National Report on the Convention on Biological Diversity*. National Commission for

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where special measures need to be taken to conserve biological diversity.

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collective goal of protecting this productive Bay for present and future generations.

establish ecosystems vital for the ongoing health of the environment.

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**8. Acknowledgements** 

**9. References** 

coastal zone. This Chapter indicates areas where urgent additional conservation actions are now required to protect the remaining natural habitats and wildlife populations from continued impact resulting from rapid and hastening coastal development.

Serious consideration should be given to prevent coastal development for industrial purposes, and instead have this development moved inland with resources currently used for coastal landfill employed instead to create inland connective waterways. This would free up these productive and attractive coastal regions for conservation, recreational and managed tourism and residential land use. This would significantly enhance the quality of life for the residents of the Eastern Province.

Other areas of the coastline are also extremely important for wildlife, and these areas tend to be the more remote locations such as the Offshore islands and isolated coastal regions such as the Gulf of Salwa and Ras Abu Qamees. Wildlife populations flourish in these areas due to the lack of physical disturbance from human related activities and also due to the large areas of relatively undisturbed habitats. These remote nesting, roosting and refuge locations, coupled with an abundance of nearby foraging resources results in very large populations of marine mammal (dugong and dolphin), marine turtles and marine birds inhabiting and breeding each year in these areas. These populations are not only significant within the Kingdom, but are also of regional and international importance. With increasing human populations and increased development pressure on the coastal zone, these remote undisturbed areas are becoming smaller and geographically closer to human settlements, and eventually wildlife populations will have no remaining undisturbed wilderness areas in which to exist, and this will be a great loss for the Kingdom, particularly for its future generations.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has good environmental strategies and legislation in place to protect the environment and these strategies and legislation only need to be effectively enforced. Changing public attitudes and behavior towards the environment is also a major objective that needs immediate attention with the development and implementation of environmental awareness and education programs aimed at all levels of society.

There are existing proposed conservation reservation areas along the Gulf coast (Maps 8 and 13) and these incorporate the remaining few natural regions of the Gulf coastal zone including Ras Abu Qamees, the Gulf of Salwa, Tarut Bay, the Jubail Embayment and the offshore coral islands (Map 15). These recommendations should be immediately reviewed and alterations made that ensure the conservation of these areas' biodiversity is guaranteed while at the same time promoting sustainable development and use by the areas' stakeholders. Conservation reservations do not have to exclude all other uses and activities, and in fact some hydrocarbon coastal reservation areas are testament to this, with these areas containing the greatest proportion of undisturbed coastline and intact habitats (e.g., mangroves) than many other areas along the Gulf coastline. Good environmental stewardship can allow nature conservation and sustainable development to flourish within the same geographical areas, it is really all about management of the area's natural resources to ensure that their inherent values are maintained and where possible enhanced. The earlier recommendations of the United Nations Environmental Program for Tarut Bay had this particular notion in mind when they nominated Tarut Bay as a Class V and VI reservation. This identified the Bay as a significant public use and amenity resource where traditional activities such as fishing could continue, and new developments that were in keeping with the Bay's environmental uniqueness and values could be undertaken, with the collective goal of protecting this productive Bay for present and future generations.
