Since the winter of 1991-92 a more serious and potentially fatal threat to 
the existence of the Jahra Pool Reserve has arisen. During tiiat winter and 
the one following, unusually heavy rains caused flooding of the suhkha 
and adjacent parts of Jahra, which resulted in subsidence damage to 
buildings and roads. Understandably, this prompted the decision by 
engineers of the relevant ministries to construct an extensive system of 
massive drains to take storm-water away directly into the sea. The new 
drains cross the Reserve and have been under construction since the 
early part of this year. However, most damaging of all has been the 
decision to divert into one of the main drains the very outflow that gives 
rise to the pool itself. An alarming and depressing aspect of the scheme 
was that once again the protected status of the Reserve was ignored, with 
the EPC learning of the threat only after the drainage project had been 
approved. 
To ensure the continued existence of the Jahra Pool, the EPC has therefore 
been forced to seek an undertaking from the ministry to provide an 
alternative supply of fresh water. It is understood that such an undertaking 
has been provisionally agreed and water could be piped from a 
preliminary treatment plant more than a kilometre away. How readily 
financial approval vnW be forthcoming for this rather costly solution is 
questionable and a cause for serious concern, given the Government's 
current need to restrict public spending severely. Newspapers regularly 
report on the gloom in Kuwait' s civil engineering industry resulting from 
Government cut-backs, so it is difficult to envisage any priority being 
given to the Reserve issue. That the problem need never have arisen if the 
EPC had been consulted at the outset is now beside the point: the Council 
will need all the encouragement and support that it can muster to 
preserve this listed Important Bird Area. (Contributed hy C. VV.T. Pilcher.) 
OMAN 
Conserva tion of IB As - Discussions between the Oman Minister of Regional 
Municipalities and Environment, Shaikh Al-Hosni, and the BirdLife 
International Secretariat in March centred on the conservation of 
Important Bird Areas (IB As) . The Minister expressed interest in producing 
an IBA publication for the sites in Oman. (Source: Network News 2 (2).) 
lUCN publication on the marine fauna of Oman - Salm, R.V., Jensen, R.A.C. 
& Papastravou, V.A. 1993. Marine Fauna of Oman: Cetaceans, Turtles, 
Seabirds, and Shallow Water Corals. A Marine and Development Report. 
lUCN. It contains a chapter (pp. 31-41) on birds and is available from 
lUCN Marine and Coastal Areas Programme, Rue Mauvemey 28, 1196 
Gland, Switzerland. 
SHARJAH, U.A.E. 
The municipality of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates has lifted a ban 
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