The Mangroves Solution
The regeneration of mangrove forests along Saudi Arabia’s extensive coastlines shows promise for nature-based solutions to climate change.
Saudi Arabia has an abundance of biodiversity, with a vast amount of plant and animal species. Due to its arid climate and geography, however, the Kingdom faces many environmental challenges. There are no permanent rivers, just seasonal wadi riverbeds. Rain is infrequent, leading to sparse vegetation. The Kingdom is bordered by the Red Sea on one side and the Arabian Gulf on the other, both of which have some of the highest salinity levels in the world. Despite this, Saudi Arabia is home to a number of native tree species. The restoration of one species―Avicennia marina―is proving to be a factor in the solution for reducing the effects of climate change.
Aramco is exploring innovative solutions to help protect Saudi Arabia’s wildlife and to reduce the environmental impact of both development and climate change.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Aramco, Mohammed Alebn Alshaikh.
Mangroves are some of the most diverse and resilient ecosystems on Earth. They are the only trees able to thrive and reproduce in salt water. Their deep-reaching, complex root systems prevent shoreline erosion, and provide habitats for thousands of species. Many of the world’s fish, shrimp, and shellfish breed and forage in the safety of mangroves and associated seagrass beds. The forests attract insects, which then entice birds that use mangroves for nesting and protection. The trees themselves absorb air pollution and filter out heavy metals and impurities from the sea water.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Aramco, Hasan Almubarak.
Mangrove forests can store up to five times more carbon than their tropical and terrestrial counterparts.
Once they sequester this carbon, they can store it for thousands of years within their oxygen-poor sediments. This efficiency makes the mangrove tree a natural and powerful carbon sink. Mangroves in the Amazon, for example, are twice as carbon rich as the rainforest. On average, each of Saudi Arabia’s Avicennia marina mangrove species will collect up to 1.5 metric tons of carbon throughout their 60-year life span.
Decades of development along the eastern coastline have negatively impacted mangroves and other important vegetation. To help reverse the degradation of Saudi Arabia’s native forests, energy company Aramco partnered with the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development and the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture to restore the Kingdom’s mangroves. In 1993, Aramco began planting mangrove seedlings at various locations along the Eastern Province’s coastline. By 2021, millions of mangroves had been planted.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of National Geographic CreativeWorks
The Mangrove Eco-Park opened along the shores of the Arabian Gulf in January 2021. The 24-square-mile Eco-Park protects one of the Eastern Province’s last naturally occurring mangrove ecosystems in a region highly impacted by development. The park has an educational facility, an on-site field laboratory that supports studies on coastal biodiversity, and a mangrove nursery that nurtures thousands of new seedlings. It also has the Kingdom’s longest nature-viewing boardwalk, where visitors can admire mangroves in the estuary while viewing local wildlife. More than 100 species of birds visit the area annually, including the whimbrel and curlew, which make the long journey from as far away as Siberia.
Farther north in the Eastern Province, Abu Ali Island is home to more than seven hectares (17 acres) of productive mangrove forests. Together, the Mangrove Eco-Park and Abu Ali contain some of the best-preserved mangrove habitats in the Eastern Province.
Mangroves are proving to be a cost-effective nature-based solution for global environmental challenges by helping to mitigate the effects of climate change and preventing the loss of biodiversity.