Terrestrial Environment and Ecosystems of Kuwait: Assessment and Restoration

This book is an outcome of collaborative efforts of a multidisciplinary team of scientists. The core objective of this book is to provide cross-sectoral information on the different aspects of the terrestrial environment and ecosystems of Kuwait. The book will be considered as a ready source of information for those seeking information on the terrestrial environment and ecosystems, assessment and restoration, as well as sustainable uses and management. In spite of Kuwait’s hyper-arid environment, it is rich in natural resources including a wide range of native plants, animal species, different habitats, protected areas, diversified soils and water and oil resources. While the desert of Kuwait constitutes various features, such as sand sheet, sand dunes, nebkhas, inland and coastal sabkhas, rock outcrop, wadis and farming areas, it is rich in flora and fauna (native plants, mammals, birds, reptiles, etc.). Due to changing climate, deserts of Kuwait as well as other countries are under severe threat of degradation and the degradation may be irreversible. To realize these impacts, an effort is being made to provide a ready source of information to highlight the potential threats to the terrestrial ecosystems and formulate adaptation and mitigation strategies for long-term ecosystems services in Kuwait as well as other countries located in a desert environment, such as Gulf Cooperation Council Countries, Africa and countries in the Arab region. The book includes sixteen chapters covering multidiscipline subjects (such as natural resources, climate and climate change, geographical features, terrestrial habitats, ecosystems and threats, water and soil resources, agriculture, food security, water-energy-food-climate nexus, green-grey-blue water footprints of various crops, etc.). Thus, this book is a unique resource that provides the latest scientific information in a single volume.

Majda Khalil Suleiman is the Research Scientist and Program Manager of Desert Agriculture and Ecosystems Program at the Environment and Life Sciences Research Center of Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research. She earned her PhD degree in 2016 in “Restoration Ecology” from the University of Western Australia and BSc degree in Botany/Plant Biology from the Kuwait University in 1989. She is a certified Desert Landscaper recognized by Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, Arizona, USA. She has over 35 years of research and development experience in agriculture, food security, restoration ecology, urban landscape development and management. She was part of the project team “Development of Kuwait Greenery Master Plan and Urban Demonstration Garden”. She has led many research projects and authored several research papers in refereed international journals (58), conference proceedings, abstracts, book chapters (62), books (8) and KISR reports (137). Currently, she is leading a Government Initiative Food Security project and is a Technical Coordinator of four projects implemented under the Kuwait Environment Remediation Program (KERP) 2021–2026. She is a member of National Committees for Biodiversity (CBD) and Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of wildlife and flora, an International reviewer of The Euro-Mediterranean Institute for Sustainable Development(EUMISD), the focal point for the HIMA Global Initiative representing the state of Kuwait, was a Member of the program committee of TMREES15 (International Conference on Technologies and Materials for Renewable Energy, Environment and Sustainability). She is the recipient of several awards including the 12th KNPC HSE Performance Award 2018–2019, Kuwait University Poster Day 2018–2019, five Scientific Achievement Awards from KISR for the years 2009–2010, 2011–2012, 2012–2013, 2013–2014, 2014–2015, and the recipient of two Awards of Excellence in 2014 and 2015 from the “Euro-Mediterranean Institute for Sustainable Development (EUMISD)”. She has also conducted and attended many trainings national and internationally.

Shabbir Ahmad Shahid was embraced with the prestigious Sir William Roberts award to pursue his PhD degree in Soil Science specializing in Soil Micromorphology of Salt-affected Soils at the University of Bangor Wales UK, completed in 1989. He earned BSc (Hons.) and MSc (Hons.) degrees in Soil Science from the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan in the years 1977 and 1980, respectively. He has over 42 years of experience as a soil scientist in Pakistan, UK, Australia, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. Currently, Dr. Shahid is a Research Scientist in the Desert Agriculture and Ecosystems Program at ELSRC-KISR. He was the technical coordinator in multi-million dollar national soil surveys of the State of Kuwait and Abu Dhabi Emirate and developed a soil survey action plan for the Northern Emirates of UAE and the Republic of Mauritania. Since 1980, he has continued his relentless efforts to create new knowledge in soil science, climate change adaptation and mitigation, food security, agriculture intensification, and informing policymakers and the public at large on the growing problem in food security due to climate change and solutions for dealing with it holistically. At international forums, Dr Shahid has remained intrepid and forthright in expressing his views, and his convictions were driven by the strength of his outstanding scientific expertise. He is respected internationally due to his outstanding contribution to science and is an honored member of the editorial boards of a number of peer-reviewed refereed journals, the member of an executive board, the member of 25 squad councils and the life member of World Association of Soil and Water Conservation (WASWAC). The international scientific community of soil science recognizes him due to being the creator and co-founder of the unique Emirates Soil Museum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He is also the discoverer of the world’s first anhydrite-rich soil in UAE and its formal addition in the 12th edition of US Keys to Soil Taxonomy published in 2014. Since he started his career in 1980, he has worked in various capacities: In Pakistan (Lecturer, Assistant Professor, and Associate Professor (1980–1998) at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan; a Demonstrator at Bangor University, UK (1985–1989); a Volunteer at the Victoria University, Footscray, Australia (1995–1996); an Associate Research Scientist at KISR, Kuwait (1996–2002) and July 2019 to date; a Manager in the Soil Resources Department at Environment Agency, Abu Dhabi (2002–2004); a Senior Salinity Management Scientist at Dubai-based International Center for Biosaline Agriculture, ICBA (2004–2017) and a Senior Fellow at ICBA (2017–2018). Dr. Shahid is an innovative thinker with a practical, solutions-oriented outlook. He is an experienced soil and water testing laboratory manager, project and program developer, with excellent leadership, coordination, networking, managerial and administrative skills, has effective and confident communication skills in English and has a high degree of computer and IT proficiency. Dr. Shahid is also the prolific author of over 200 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, scientific magazines, and conference proceedings. He published, edited and co-edited 8 books with the international publisher Springer. His Research Interest Score (RIS) is 2638, h-index 23, i10-index 48 with 2,591 citations, and 170,135 reads globally. His RIS is higher than 97% of all ResearchGate members’ scores globally. In addition, his books published by Springer have been downloaded over 400,000 times from the Springer website.