The Environment Agency — Abu Dhabi (EAD) has completed the implementation of a pioneer project aimed at assessing the genetic diversity of the sand gazelle population in EAD-managed forests.

This is considered the first of its kind on a global scale for this particular species within its natural and historic distribution in the Arabian Peninsula.

The project assessed the genetic diversity and verified any current or future threats to genetic characteristics resulting from inbreeding and crossbreeding with other species, which may affect the physiological and morphological characteristics and may lead to genetic drifting and mutations that threaten the survival of this culturally important species.

Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, secretary-general of EAD, said: “EAD, as the competent authority mandated for managing the forests of Abu Dhabi, has sought to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy for forestry in the emirate. This strategy includes a number of policies and principles tailored to enhance environmental sustainability in our forests, a heritage that was established in Abu Dhabi in the mid-sixties in realisation of the vision of the founder of the UAE, the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan.”

Al Mubarak said that 34 forests have been developed as reproduction sites for wildlife populations. Today, these forests shelter around 54,000 individual species of antelopes and sand gazelle. The EAD has been making extensive efforts to provide appropriate standardised conditions for wildlife populations living within the forests through the development of infrastructure and logistics allocated for the nutritional processes and ensuring that adequate veterinary care and biosecurity procedures are in place.

“The EAD has focused on studying and assessing the genetic status of the sand gazelle population because this species constitutes the largest percentage of the total animal populations in Abu Dhabi forests (70 per cent) on the one hand, and due to the importance of this species in the natural heritage of UAE on the other hand,” Al Mubarak said.

Dr Shaikha Al Daheri, executive director of Terrestrial and Marine Biodiversity Sector, EAD, said the project was the first of its kind in the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant, which is the natural and historical range of this species. The outcomes of this project will allow EAD to be a scientific reference for many institutions wishing to repeat this project at the national or regional level.

EAD has completed the implementation of its first phase of the project and that other wildlife species will be targeted in the following phases, such as mountain gazelles and the Arabian oryx.