Saving the ghaf tree: a campaign diary (page 1 of 2)

EWS-WWF and Al Fahim believe that the UAE's ghaf (Prosopis cineraria) has attributes that merit its selection as national tree. Our 'save the ghaf tree campaign' shows this has public support.

December 6, 2006, Abu Dhabi: The campaign is inaugurated

With a few clicks of the mouse, H.E. Majid Al Mansouri, Board Member, Emirates Wildlife Society, plants a sapling on the ghaf website.

Another couple of clicks, and Mr. Saeed Jalil Al Fahim, Chairman, Al Fahim Group, plants a second sapling.

A nation-wide campaign to save the ghaf tree is thus launched - a campaign aimed at gaining public support to elect the ghaf as UAE's national tree.

Why campaign for the ghaf? Primarily because the ghaf tree is in grave danger; and it is too precious a resource to lose, tantamount to losing a national heritage and an important component of the UAE's natural history.

The indigenous ghaf (Prosopis cineraria) has been an integral part of the UAE's distinctive desert environment and the civilization that developed here. Ghaf is historically and culturally as valuable as it is ecologically.
Groves of ghaf grow naturally in the desert sands and wide wadis in all emirates (mainly eastern parts of the country); but they are disappearing rapidly. The trees are being overgrazed by an increasing number of camels; heavily lopped for fodder; deprived of groundwater because of excessive extraction to meet farming needs; and cleared to give way to rapidly expanding urban infrastructure. Finally, there is the biggest threat of all - public ignorance about the ghaf and its values.

Scientists have long believed that ghaf be declared national tree of the UAE, and surviving natural ghaf groves protected. Without such measures, the specie's continued survival in the wild is questionable.

We - the EWS-WWF and Al Fahim - pick up the cue. Save the ghaf tree campaign gets going.

Our aim is to raise public awareness about the multiple values of ghaf, raise the tree's profile and reach out to the public to vote for ghaf to be designated national tree. We believe this will help protect the species. For one, because people's votes will strengthen the petition we intend submitting to the authorities. And secondly, if indeed ghaf is accepted as the national tree, it will surely be given special protection through legal, administrative, scientific and fiscal means.

www.savetheghaftree.org is set up to provide comprehensive information about the ghaf. The site's three interactive components - ghaf garden, ballot box and how you can help - gain popularity as news about the website spreads.

The ghaf garden allows individuals to plant virtual saplings in their name and also refer friends to the garden. We commit to planting one real ghaf in the wild for every 10 saplings planted in the garden. The ballot box calls for votes online in favour of ghaf to be selected national tree. The site's 'How you can help' link takes viewers to a ghaf competition, inviting people to register online and actively, creatively, contribute to the ghaf campaign by sending in photographs, posters, sketches, paintings, stories, and letters - all related to the ghaf. (The number of entries received will have touched 122 by the close of the campaign.