MUSCAT: The Environment Authority, represented by the Directorate-General of Nature Conservation, is carrying out a new campaign aimed at sowing 2 million seeds of mangrove trees in the governorates of Al Batinah North, Al Sharqiyah South and Al Wusta.
The campaign aims to conserve ecosystems in the coastal wetlands of the Sultanate of Oman and boost their efficiency by implementing several projects for achieving the operational objectives approved by the Environment Authority’s plan related to the plantation of 1 million trees.
Badr bin Saif al Busaidy, Acting director of the department of wetlands at the Environment Authority, said the campaign is divided into two phases the first of which is the seed collecting from the Qurum Natural Reserve in Muscat Governorate and lasts for 14 days.
The seeds were then transferred to the target sites through controlled methods and were kept in air-conditioned milieus at a temperature ranging between 23 and 26 degrees to avoid damage. Mangrove seeds were sowed in 4 select sites with a total area of 90 hectares (900,000 sq metres). It took the field teams 17 days to complete the task due to the sea tide with the planting operations carried out only during reflux periods.
Al Busaidy noted that the studies indicated the ability of mangrove trees to adapt and grow in the selected sites. A total of 800,000 seeds were sowed in in Khor Shinas in Wilayat of Shinas, 100,000 seeds in Khor Al Har in the Wilayat of Masirah in Al Sharqiyah South Governorate and 1.1 million seeds in in the Wilayat of Al Jazir in Al Wusta Governorate. — ONA
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