Irrigation costs can be cut 'using native plants in landscaping'

ABU DHABI // Using native plants in city landscaping could save Al Ain more than 96 per cent of its irrigation costs, a pilot project has found.

Local plants such as date palms and ghaf trees are well adapted to the dry and salty desert environment, and planting them in parks and along roads could strengthen the country's water security, the Minister of Environment and Water said yesterday.

"We hope that using the native plants will really cut down on our consumption," Rashid Ahmed bin Fahad said.

Mr bin Fahad spoke on the sidelines of a forum organised by the ministry and the country's municipalities to discuss indigenous plants, and those that originated elsewhere but now grow naturally here.

Officials at the forum called for a national centre devoted to documenting, preserving and cultivating such plants.

"We are studying it with other government institutions," Mr bin Fahad said. "This is needed."

Integrating native plants into municipal landscaping helps to conserve scarce resources, said Helal Al Kaabi, from Al Ain City Municipality.

"The lack of rain, the lack of groundwater resources, the lack of rivers and wadis - all these challenges have to be faced by the Government," Mr Al Kaabi said. "We have to deal with such a situation very seriously."

Al Ain uses drain water for about half of its landscaping irrigation and has developed a strategy to reduce the expense of the process.

"We have 81 species of plants …" Mr Al Kaabi said. "They support the dryness of the weather and they resist all the tough circumstances of the desert environment we have in this area. I think they can be more properly utilised."

Al Ain designed a 1,200 square metre project and selected several native species to plant. The operational cost of maintaining them was 60 fils for each square metre a month.

"They need very small quantities of water both in winter and summer," Mr Al Kaabi said.

Abu Dhabi Municipality also plans to reduce costs by using native and naturalised plants, said Abdul-Sattar Al Mashhadani, the head of the parks and recreation division.

"The plantation of native plants is still not enough," Mr Al Mashhadani said. "It's why we need to gradually change our designs."

Since 2010, about 35 per cent of the capital's ornamental landscaping has used native plants.

Apart from saving water, the strategy provides natural shelter and food for wildlife such as birds, Mr Al Mashhadani said.

"In addition to retaining our unique horticultural identity, it will strengthen capacities for drought and climate change impact management," he added.

A challenge will be "obtaining the acceptance and adoption" of the policy change, Mr Al Mashhadani said.

Officials from Dubai, Ajman and Ras Al Khaimah municipalities also spoke at the forum.

"We have always been interested in native plants," said Nabil Mahfoudh, from Dubai.

The municipality transplants ghaf trees from areas where construction is planned, Mr Mahfoudh said.

"Some of those trees are really big and live for a long time, so it was a shame to lose them," he said. "We took them to Al Mushrif Park."

Mr Mafoudh said between 80 and 90 per cent of transplants were successful.

In 2010, Ajman Municipality launched a six-year strategy to integrate native plants into landscaping.

Ahmed Al Muhairi, its manager of administration for agriculture and public parks, displayed a photograph of a street where a native bush had been trimmed into decorative shapes.

Ajman has also experimented with moving ghaf trees.

"About 75 per cent of those transfers are successful," Mr Al Muhairi said.

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Profile of Foodics

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hall of shame

SUNDERLAND 2002-03

No one has ended a Premier League season quite like Sunderland. They lost each of their final 15 games, taking no points after January. They ended up with 19 in total, sacking managers Peter Reid and Howard Wilkinson and losing 3-1 to Charlton when they scored three own goals in eight minutes.

SUNDERLAND 2005-06

Until Derby came along, Sunderland’s total of 15 points was the Premier League’s record low. They made it until May and their final home game before winning at the Stadium of Light while they lost a joint record 29 of their 38 league games.

HUDDERSFIELD 2018-19

Joined Derby as the only team to be relegated in March. No striker scored until January, while only two players got more assists than goalkeeper Jonas Lossl. The mid-season appointment Jan Siewert was to end his time as Huddersfield manager with a 5.3 per cent win rate.

ASTON VILLA 2015-16

Perhaps the most inexplicably bad season, considering they signed Idrissa Gueye and Adama Traore and still only got 17 points. Villa won their first league game, but none of the next 19. They ended an abominable campaign by taking one point from the last 39 available.

FULHAM 2018-19

Terrible in different ways. Fulham’s total of 26 points is not among the lowest ever but they contrived to get relegated after spending over £100 million (Dh457m) in the transfer market. Much of it went on defenders but they only kept two clean sheets in their first 33 games.

LA LIGA: Sporting Gijon, 13 points in 1997-98.

BUNDESLIGA: Tasmania Berlin, 10 points in 1965-66

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The rules on fostering in the UAE

A foster couple or family must:

be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
not be younger than 25 years old
not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially

Scores

Scotland 54-17 Fiji
England 15-16 New Zealand

Five famous companies founded by teens

There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:

Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.