Habitat reduction is a significant threat to biodiversity. A solution includes conservation efforts to help preserve vast biodiversity. Working towards this, Qatar’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MoECC) is in the final stage of developing a national biodiversity database platform to create environmental maps of the ecosystem and identify important sites for biodiversity in the country.

The project, launched in 2021, aims to preserve the Gulf state’s biodiversity and local living species and prepare reports related to biodiversity monitoring, and decision-making.

At the same time, the project looks to design a digital platform that holds data about biodiversity, with lists of plant and animal species registered in the country as part of the Qatar Digital Government Strategy 2023-2025. 

Over the past few days, the MoECC has held meetings to handle the final stages of the project, which comes in coordination with the UN Environment Programme’s Regional Office for West Asia (UNEP) and the World Conservation Monitoring Center.

At the meetings, the teams responsible for establishing the project and the electronic knowledge management platform reviewed the timetable needed to finalize the project, which is scheduled to launch this year.

The first session allowed for a review of the already completed stages last month and a presentation of the initial platform design. The second session included discussing marine surveys of biodiversity in the country.

The project work teams from the MoECC and UNEP discussed the work plan and future steps to overcome the existing challenges to complete the remaining stages of the project.