The inter-connected web within the Arabian Peninsula from offshore waters to the highest inland summit provides a profile of diverse landscapes with unique habitats and ecosystems, both terrestrial and marine. This interconnected web includes a remarkable diversity of species of flora and fauna that have evolved in response to challenging environmental conditions.
Some of the region’s most bountiful and delicate natural habitats, including mangrove forests, seagrass beds, mud flats, nutrient-rich shallows and coral reefs occur on or close to the coast. Here, marine resources such as fish and pearl oysters have sustained coastal communities for millennia, allowing trade and cultural links between diverse peoples that still flourish today.
The desert ecosystems contrast qualities of resilience and fragility. Over time, this has resulted in remarkable specialisations and a richness and diversity that is not obvious to the casual observer. Only slowly do they reveal themselves and, in the process, illuminate the uniqueness of an apparent emptiness that is far from empty.
If you would like to further become part of a global movement towards showcasing the amazing environments around us share your photos with the Great Nature Project!
Make sure to hashtag your photos with #greatnatureproject as well as #UAE or #Arabia for our regional partners to raise appreciation and awareness of our natural heritage. We’re inviting students, NGOs, public and private sector backgrounds to “go outside and, explore, connect, and join us for a project as big as the world itself”!
Mission Wall