Protection of marine environmental quality in the Kingdom of Bahrain

Bahrain is a member of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) that share common challenges such as vulnerability to climate change and fragile environments. It is also a member of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) which is a group of six countries located along the Arabian Gulf, an arid and extremely stressed environment. During the last four decades, Bahrain's marine environment witnessed unprecedented pressures due to human activities including sand dredging, coastal development, effluent discharges, and seawater desalination, which have led to negative impacts including degradation of Marine Environmental Quality (MEQ). This study used document analysis as the primary data collection tool and followed a criteria-based evaluation approach to examine the development of MEQ management in Bahrain and to highlight opportunities for improvement. The study revealed that Bahrain's MEQ management has developed in different aspects including marine spatial planning, assessment and control of marine pollution, and MEQ monitoring. However, the current MEQ management framework suffers from incoherence and major shortcomings such as the absence of an overarching marine spatial plan and the lack of specific MEQ objectives and thresholds. Bahrain had benefited significantly from building partnerships with regional and international environmental organizations in the past and has great opportunities to build new regional and global partnerships in order to improve its marine management. Developing an ecosystem-based marine spatial plan should be prioritized as it can serve as the basis of marine environmental management and helps the country to achieve its sustainable development goals.

Automated summary

Bahrain is a member of the Small Island Developing States and the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf. The country faces common challenges such as vulnerability to climate change and fragile environments. Bahrain's marine environment has been under pressures due to human activities, and its management framework has shortcomings. However, it has opportunities to establish new international partnerships.