DOHA: The Unesco Office in Doha has launched an ecological field survey at the Khor Al Udaid area to develop a nomination file for the Unesco World Heritage List.
The survey, which is funded by the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) and carried out in co-operation with the Supreme Council for the Environment and Natural Reserves (SCENR), brought national and international experts together this week, to do a rapid assessment on the terrestrial and marine ecology as well as on cartography and ecotourism aspects in the Khor Al Udaid area, which is also known as the Inland Sea area, said a press statement.
The overall project management was contracted to CreOcean, a leading French consultancy in Coastal and Marine Environment and Oceanography, which has its branch in Doha.
The experts from Qatar, France, the UK, the US and Germany are currently surveying the area in three teams to assess and evaluate the profile, necessary to apply for the status of a Unesco Natural World Heritage Site.
The project was also supported by the Qatar National Hotels Company (QNHC), Saraya Diving Center (Discovery Marine Environmental Trip in the Arab Gulf & Arab sea) and Qatar International Tours (QIT),
So far, the terrestrial teams observed over 125 different sites, while driving about 420km, starting at the Qatari Eastcoast, around the Khor Al Udaid until the Gulf of Salwa on the West coast of Qatar.
Several unique features were portrayed during the survey and the overall database of pictures to document the results has reached over 800 photographs, which will be crucial for the development of the nomination file, said the statement.
The Marine Team (Three divers, one boat, one security officer) has observed several off-shore sites at the "mouth" of the Inland Sea, in the channel which connects the Inland Sea area with the open sea and within the north and south basins.
The Tourism and Cartography team already displayed the roads and tracks accessing the area, several sites of exceptional interest for future development of tourism facilities and an overall grid, helping to provide detailed GPS-based information on the area, it added.
The team comprises Dr Benno Boer (Unesco official), Wejdan Al Malki (Qatar), Melanie Krummel (Germany), Prof Dr Eugene "Gene" A Shinn (USA), Simon Aspinall (UK), Dr Stephane Sartoretto (France), Henning Schwarze (Germany), Dr Iain Macdonald (UK), Prof Dr Hans Karl Barth (Germany) and Andreas Wade (Unesco).
The supporting SCENR team comprises Mohammed Al Jaidah, Saleh Al Kawari, Darwish Ahmed, Khaled Al Enzi , Saif Shandhour and Issa Al Hitmi.
© The Peninsula 2005
