SURVEILLANCE cameras could be installed to protect ecological areas in Buhair Valley and crack down on illegal dumping and demolition of cliffs.
The call has gone out from the area’s elected representatives to boost security in the area, which is now under heavy presence of the police, and municipal and environmental inspectors.
However, public representatives still claim that violations are continuing in Buhair, especially in the early hours of the morning, when the place is dark and individuals and vehicles are unnoticeable.
In July 2022, His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, had declared that the ecological areas in Buhair Valley that contain terrain and rocky hills be considered a ‘nature reserve’.
He called on the relevant authorities to take ministerial measures to preserve the zone.
HRH Prince Salman further directed officials to continue infrastructure development in Buhair Valley while taking into account its ecological significance.
He affirmed the kingdom’s commitment to preserve and develop areas of natural and historic value to support the country’s role as a tourist attraction.
Parliament’s financial and economic affairs committee vice-chairman Mohammed Al Rifaee said it has been a year since the royal declaration, but without any substantial governmental effort to actually protect the place.
“It is good that there is heavy police, municipal and environmental presence in Buhair Valley, but it is mostly during the day and in particular places within reach, while the protected site is much bigger and more difficult to monitor,” he said.
“For that there have to be surveillance cameras connected to concerned ministries remotely to ensure that all culprits are caught, face punishment and clean the place at their own expense.
“This is a unique valley and its demise means the country has lost a national treasure and unfortunately some thickheads continue to disregard this for numerous reasons.”
The GDN reported last month that police patrols were present at Buhair Valley to prevent people from rushing there to carry out a TikTok dare.
A challenge that went viral on the popular video-sharing application saw people landing up in droves at the site to fish, to get more followers and make quick money.
However, as reported previously in the GDN, the fish in the lake are being farmed by the Health Ministry to eradicate the problem of mosquitoes and other insects in the area.
Southern Municipal Council chairman and area councillor Abdulla Abdullatif said the government needed to fast-track measures to protect Buhair Valley from destruction.
“There is a need to map out protected areas, set up remote surveillance cameras and arrange a budget to fence them off to stop people from trespassing or destroying the historic archaeological site,” he said.
“Why is it taking too long for necessary measures to be taken by the relevant ministries and government bodies to safeguard the valley?
“The leadership’s intervention clearly reveals the importance of the area, but it has been more than a year since the official declaration and nothing has been done yet to protect the valley as dumping and cliff demolition continues.”
He added residents have witnessed several migratory bird carcasses and injured animals.
“A few birds were spotted with plastic bottles in their beaks or bills, a few others were found trapped inside plastic bags, or dead after drinking sewage water.
“There have also been reports of wild animals like weasels found dead or injured with severed limbs.
“That’s not to forget about dead fish extracted for fun through the TikTok challenge and left outside the water to die despite being brought in for health reasons and that’s eradicating the mosquitoes’ problem.”
Buhair Valley dates back to prehistoric times as it contains fossils of creatures indicating that the place was once underwater.
However, decades of illegal dumping has turned it into a toxic wasteland.
Residents complained of unhygienic conditions and pungent gases when waste was dug to lay the foundations for a government housing complex in 2013.
A major clean-up operation was immediately launched to empty the valley of waste, but on several occasions the rubbish combusted when oxygen was exposed to methane gas that had built up over the years.
Around 3,700 people in Bahrain signed an online petition earlier this year, calling for a halt to the destruction in the valley, while others trekked down the valley seeking the most picturesque spots to paint, photograph and draw.
Buhair Valley has many examples of geological phenomena completely unique to Bahrain. Geologists have claimed that it contains 45-million-year-old fossils that cannot be found anywhere else.
Known in Arabic as Wadi Al Buhair – ‘wadi’ meaning valley and ‘buhair’ meaning ‘little sea’ – it contains rock formations belonging to the middle Eocene epoch, between 40 and 48 million years ago.
The fossils are shells left behind by single-celled organisms known as foraminifera, which would bore holes into the limestone and leave behind empty spaces after they decompose.
mohammed@gdnmedia.bh
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