'Progress' is destroying our precious wildlife.Enough is enough. I am fed up of seeing the last vestiges of Bahrain's wildlife and natural resources being destroyed in the name of progress. Take Adhari Park Ein Adhari, an amusement park, is in the Kingdom of Bahrain. In 2003, the site was remodeled and it became a major tourist attraction. In 2006, it was remodeled at a cost of over $23,000,000 US dollars. . To build the current complex a large hedgerow hedgerow Fence or boundary formed by a dense row of shrubs or low trees. Hedgerows enclose or separate fields, protect the soil from wind erosion, and serve to keep cattle and other livestock enclosed. that bounded the property to the west, one that divided it from the large open land next door, was totally removed virtually overnight. Grubbed up to be replaced eventually by a few stick plants. The hedgerow followed the side of the large drainage ditch that now alone runs beside the car park to make the western boundary. The ditch and the hedgerow were a remarkable natural micro environment. They were home to at least a dozen species of Bahrain's breeding birds, most of them highly endangered. Little bittern The Little Bittern (Ixobrychus minutus) is a wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, native to the Old World, breeding in Africa, central and southern Europe, western and southern Asia, and Australasia. , night herons, moorhen moorhen: see rail. moorhen or common gallinule Bird of the migratory gallinule species (Gallinula chloropus, family Rallidae) of Europe, Africa, and eastern North America. , bulbuls, rufous ru·fous adj. Strong yellowish pink to moderate orange; reddish. rufous red. bushchats, several species of dove, olivaceous ol·i·va·ceous adj. Olive-green. and graceful warblers. The hedgerow protected the water course, providing shade and breeding habitat for some of the country's even more endangered marine species. Some of the last native terrapin terrapin (tĕr`əpĭn), name for several edible turtles of fresh or brackish water. terrapin Any omnivorous aquatic turtle of the family Emydidae, especially the diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin). , frogs and fish could be found here. During migration many other species of birds took advantage of this mini-reserve and its natural bounty. The number of bird species recorded for the ditch was remarkable and included two species of kingfisher, a good environmental indicator Environmental indicators are simple measures that tell us what is happening in the environment. Since the environment is very complex, indicators provide a more practical and economical way to track the state of the environment than if we attempted to record every possible variable to the purity of the water. Alas, now everything is gone, along with seven species of dragonfly dragonfly, any insect of the order Odonata, which also includes the damselfly. Members of this order are generally large predatory insects and characteristically have chewing mouthparts and four membranous, net-veined wings; they undergo complete metamorphosis. , some not recorded elsewhere in Bahrain and countless other insects and animals. One could ask why the hedge was removed, in the first place. It was left alone during construction, so I thought it was to be retained; it only disappeared when the car park was put up, sadly while I was not looking. The space it occupied was minimal but through its removal the damage done to local wildlife cannot be over emphasised. Now comes the sad part of this tale and to me it is like adding an insult to injury. Last week I was bird-watching in the open area to the west of Adhari, checking the few small ditches that survive for birds and checking the open area for breeding Kentish plover The Kentish Plover, Charadrius alexandrinus, is a small wader in the plover bird family. Despite its name, this species no longer breeds in Great Britain. and crested larks. However, with the hedgerow removed it is easy to also see what is going on at the park. Given the early hour on a Saturday morning, the only other person around was a cleaner picking up litter in the car park. I watched him walking around scooping up the litter into his bucket on a stick. When he had a full bucket, yes you guessed it; he walked over to what remains of the ditch and emptied his collection of garbage into the water. One only has to look along the ditch to see the accumulated piles of garbage. This has been going on since the park reopened. If all the building waste and other garbage were removed, the ditch might make a full recovery. It would be better still if a decent barrier hedge was re-planted using native plants but first someone has to tell the Adhari Park management that they have a responsibility to their clientAle to maintain a healthy environment. A responsibility that includes their boundary ditches which they are slowly choking to death through the lack of proper waste management. I don't blame the Asian worker. I blame those in charge, the buck stops with them, that's what they are paid for! Howard King Copyright 2009 Gulf Daily News Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |
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