EAD rehabilitating mountainous natural habitats in Jebel Hafit National Park with rare and threatened local plants

EAD rehabilitating mountainous natural habitats in Jebel Hafit National Park with rare and threatened local plants

The Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi, EAD, has begun a project to rehabilitate mountainous natural habitats in the Jebel Hafit National Park by propagating threatened local plant species like Dwarf Palms, Caralluma and Arabian Moringa in its native plant nursery.

Within a valley in the Jebel Hafit National Park, 55 Dwarf Palms, 30 Carulluma and 30 Arabian Moringa plants have been planted in a wadi (valley) in the Park. They will be continuously monitored until the end of the year, to ensure their survival. Once they are fully established, they will be left to grow naturally, although their rates of growth will be observed.

Dwarf palms are considered the rarest and most threatened plant in Abu Dhabi, with only one specimen known in the wild, growing in a high altitude wadi on Jebel Hafit. Elsewhere in the UAE, the species are known from sites in Wadi Al Helo and Hatta. Several previous attempts have been made to propagate Dwarf Palms. Their seeds are generally eaten by birds and other animals before they mature, leaving nothing for natural generation. The fact that the species grows in mountainous areas that are extremely difficult to reach makes it difficult to collect seeds for propagation.

Following success