Development of Decision Support Tool for the Terrestrial Biodiversity of Kuwait

The diverse range of environmental problems faced by the State of Kuwait is due to the desertification of rangelands and lack of proper conservation measures leading to the degradation of existing biodiversity.

The Decision Support Tool for the Conservation of Terrestrial Biodiversity of Kuwait project was undertaken to design a decision support tool using state-of-the-technologies like geographic information system, (GIS) remote sensing, customized natural resource models developed at MIT and Gap analysis to visualize current and future aspects of biodiversity in Kuwait. The study aims to identify factors that cause land degradation thus influencing the biodiversity and establish criteria mainly for selection of high asset areas of Kuwait that have significant biodiversity.

Reconnaissance field surveys of the protected areas of Kuwait have been undertaken during the study, identifying species, ecosystems and ecological process and the collected data (vegetation types, key fauna species, microhabitats, etc. (have been gradually validated and uploaded to GIS geospatial datasets to enhance the decision support system.

Based on these ongoing studies a Biodiversity Atlas for the State of Kuwait is being developed to identify potential sites for restoration activities and to serve as a document that will provide vital information for future conservation of the biodiversity of Kuwait