Qatar has taken many significant steps in enriching biodiversity demonstrating that the country attaches great importance to the protection and preservation of biological diversity.
The Ministry of Municipality and Environment implemented several pilot projects designed to protect the marine environment and enrich biodiversity such as the projects for protection of whale sharks, turtles nesting, dugong and cultivating coral reef at several sites, and cleaning the seabed by removing waste from deep sea. The Ministry has amended laws for the protection of wildlife and its natural habitats to serve the biological diversity of Qatar. Several laws were enacted like law for regulating hunting some birds and wildlife during breading seasons. The Ministry, in coordination with the authorities concerned, took the necessary measures for the protection of marine environment and marine biodiversity in Qatar resulting in new coral reef sites were added within environmental protection.
Qatar developed in 2004, the first national strategy for biodiversity, and the second national strategy that contributes to the balance between the major components of sustainable development in the country and alleviates the major pressures on the components of biodiversity.
The Ministry has implemented a number of measures for the prosperity of the marine environment and the protection of marine biodiversity, including the inclusion of new reef sites within environmental protection, or the transfer of new coral reefs or the landing of artificial reefs.
In 2017, a total of 11,595 natural hard coral reefs and 500 soft coral reefs were shifted for the purpose of protection. And 31,656 Avicennia trees (Quram) of mangrove reallocated at coastal area. Details about the protection of marine life in Qatar were shared by the Ministry of Municipality and Environment on its social networking sites on the occasion of International Day for Biological Diversity.
The Ministry has also carried out several pilot projects aimed at protecting the marine environment and enriching biodiversity, such as the whale shark protection project, turtle nesting, the crocodile protection, coral reef culture projects in several locations. Qatar is one of the five Arab States parties to the Convention on the Suppression of International Traffic in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and among the best countries that were committed to the convention.
In order to develop laws on biodiversity, the Ministry has adopted laws to protect wildlife and natural habitats to serve the country’s biodiversity. Qatar’s interest in enriching its marine biodiversity is in line with Qatar National Vision 2030, which calls for the protection and preservation of the country’s natural environment.