The Arab world is no different 85% of the world's coasts are in a catastrophic state

A new environmental study - conducted by an international team - revealed that only 15.5% of the world's coasts are still virgin and untouched by human hands, while the conditions of the rest vary; Some of them are in miserable condition, especially the coasts of major cities.

These experts, according to a report published on the “Eurek Alert” website on February 8, suggested that the current situation of the world’s coasts would be worse than the information they obtained, because the data they worked on and currently available date back to 2013. .

Virgin coasts are becoming rare

It seems through this study that the human hand will inevitably reach all the coasts of the world, which was indicated by researcher Benjamin Halpern - Executive Director of the American National Center for Ecological Analysis and Data at the University of California - Santa Barbara - one of the participants in this study. The study was published in the journal Conservation Biology.

Benjamin says - in the press release issued by the University of California, Santa Barbara - "We noticed that the coasts that were not covered by human hands have become very rare, which is what we reached through our analysis of the available data dating back about 10 years ago... and we confirmed that human exploitation of the coasts The pressure he is now applying to her will not stop, which portends a dark future."

For his part, the lead author of this study, Brooke Williams - from the University of Queensland in Australia - said in the press release: “The results of our study confirm that it is necessary to take rapid measures to preserve the coasts that have remained virgin and to repair what has been spoiled in the rest of the coasts. other".

The authors of the study attribute the reasons for the pressure exerted on the coasts to the human need for marine habitats and the biodiversity that abounds in, as well as to the terrible urban expansion that extended along the coasts during the past years.

The study’s authors added that about 50% of the coasts of most countries in the world are in a catastrophic state, and that about half of the marine reserves (43.3%) do not play their role properly to preserve the marine environment, due to human encroachments.

Arab and international

Researcher Brooke Williams said - in a statement to Al Jazeera Net via e-mail - that the situation in the Arab countries is not very different from the countries of the world, as many Arab coasts know pressure from the human side, but there are also many coasts that are still virgin.

Brooke explained that "although there are many coasts in the Arab region that experience great human pressures, there are still virgin areas, and the most stressed coasts are found in Morocco, Western Sahara, Libya and the Red Sea region."

He added that the protected areas on the coasts of the Arab region still lack good management that allows them to preserve their biodiversity and protect the coasts from human pressures, which is the case in many countries of the world where marine reserves are still unable to play their full role.

At the international level, the press release indicated that Canada is the first in the world in the length of the coasts that are still preserving their nature, followed by Russia, Chile, Australia and the United States, which are generally countries with large areas and very long coasts.