I. Identification

1. The Issue

Although the Red Sea’s marine and coral habitat is exceptionally unique, an array of ominous issues are apparent which can threat its natural beauty. Tourism expansion has been accelerating increasingly. Resort development and tourist attractions are continuously being erected, accommodating visitors mainly from Europe, the Arab world and Israel. The region that has been most prone to this activity within the Red Sea is the Gulf of Aqaba, which is engulfed by four countries: Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Another significant issue that has affected the habitat of this fragile sea has been the expansion of trade. The Red Sea has been a significant foundation for a vast array of shipping trade routes. These routes exist within coastal inhabitants of the Red Sea, and between Asia, Africa and the Western world. The opening of the Suez Canal, in Egypt, in 1867 with the help of France, was a significant measure to increase trade activity between Europe and Asia. Today, 6% of the world’s maritime shipping is being conducted within the sea’s shores facilitated by the Suez Canal.

Tourist arrivals
Country	Rank	Amount
Egypt	28	3,657,000	(1997)
Saudi Arabia	29	3,594,000	(1997)
Israel	41	2,010,000	(1997)
Jordan	48	1,127,000	(1997)
		10,388,000

2. Description

The Red Sea and Gulf of Aden region includes the coastal and marine waters of Jordan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Sudan, Djibouti and Yemen
This region is considered as arid, with low rainfall in the form of showers of short duration, often associated with thunderstorms and occasionally with dust storms. Different habitats such as mangroves with significant importance for animals (including migratory species) and many uses to man, sea grasses, and coral reef territories are fairly widespread within the Red Sea/Gulf of Aden region.
The problems of physical alteration and destruction of habitats are a result of dredging and filling operations associated with urban expansion, tourism, and industrial development. In general, the main sources of marine pollution come from land-based activities, including urbanization and coastal development, industries including power and desalination plants, refineries, recreation and tourism, wastewater treatment facilities, coastal mining and quarrying activities, and oil bunkering.
Physically, The Red Sea has a very narrow feature. Water circulation to and from other sources is considered very low, and there is no direct source of fresh water input. This physical attribution has allowed unique growth of indigenous species such as corals and tropical fish. This has been a highlighted feature for visiting tourists, who persistently enjoy one of the greatest underwater wonders of the world.

The waters of the Red Sea are also very deep. It has an average depth of 500 meters and in some areas water depth reaches 2000 meters. The Red Sea was formed by a rigorous continental drift between the continental plates of Africa and Asia that occurred approximately 20 million years ago.

Terrorism in the Red Sea:

Limburg oil tanker
There has not been any major oil spills in the region. However on the sixth of October 2002, a French oil tanker named “Limburg” was deliberately struck by a small boat, off the coast of Yemen. An estimated 700 tones of crude oil were spilt.
The incident occurred in the Yemeni port of Ash Shihr, at Mukalah, 353 miles east of the major port city Aden. A fast approaching small boat loaded with explosives first collided with the big vessel, then exploded a few moments later supporting claims that it was a deliberate terrorist act, perpetrated by Al-Qaeda activists in the region. One crew member of the vessel was the sole casualty of the incident.

USS Cole
On October 12th 2000, a terrorist attack occurred targeting an American Naval guided missile destroyer, the USS Cole. The attack occurred of the coast of the port city of Yemen.
The incident occurred while the ship was refueling, when a small boat loaded with explosives approximately weighing 500 pounds, deliberately collided with the vessel. The attack again, was allegedly perpetrated by Al-Qaeda activists, and killed 17 people and injuring 39.

ARAL Aral Sea Loss and Environmental and Economic Repercussions, by Joshua Calder

DEADSEA Dead Sea Canal, Water and Trade, by Shari Berke

GUMARAB Gum Arabic Trade, Sudan, and Religion, Daniel Kim

TORTOISE Testudo Kleinmanni: An Endangered Egyptian Tortoise and its Trade, by Rama Faye

Geographically related

EGYPT Egypt Tourism and Cultural Heritage Problems, by Gil Bindlegas

ISRAEL Israel Jordan Water Dispute and Relation to Trade and Environment, by Gil Bindelglas

Somalia Waste Imports from Europe and Civil War, by Michael Poaletta

Saudi Arabia's Wheat Export Program and Subsidies, by Yannick Poivey and Eyad H. Zayed

SPICE Spice, the Spread of Islam and Trade in History, by Karen Farrell

Aqaba, Environment, and Tourism, by Tarik Obeidi

VOA Israel Bird Migration and VOA Transmitting Tower, by Lilach Grunfeld

JORDAN-FTA-LABOR Provisions for Labor in International Trade Agreements: The Precedent of the US-Jordan Treaty , by Jason Netherton

4. Author and Date:

 

Relevant Agreements, initiatives and actors	Description	Adopted	Enforced	Countries
The Jeddah convention	The Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, is an intergovernmental body dedicated to the conservation of the coastal and marine environments in the region.	1982	1985	Sudan Jordan Saudi Arabia Somalia Yemen
PERSGA	Implementation of the Jeddah convention, the Action plan and the Protocol.	1996	1996	Sudan Jordan Saudi Arabia Somalia Yemen
SAP	Strategic Action Plan for the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden To provide a framework for the long-term conservation of the environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden	1998	1998	Djibouti Egypt Jordan Saudi Arabia Somalia Sudan Yemen
Gulf of Aqaba Environmental Action Plan	As part of the regional Environmental Action Plan for the Gulf of Aqaba, the project will (a) develop regional collaborative mechanisms for strengthening the capacity to protect coastal zone and marine biodiversity; (b) develop and enforce the legal framework and regulations for control of trans-boundary pollution; (c) provide safeguards against oil pollution; (d) establish and implement guidelines for sustainable development of the coastal zone; (e) assess the effects of wastewater seepage on the quality and level of the trans-boundary water table; (f) implement a plan to control solid waste impacts on marine and coastal waters; and (g) demarcate and manage a marine protected area.	1995	1995	Jordan

5. Discourse and Status: Agreement and In Progress

6. Forum and Scope: PERSGA and Regional

7. Decision Breadth: 6

8. Legal Standing: Treaty

III. Geographic Clusters

16. Economic Data

Main Imports & exports
Country	Main Imports	Main Exports
Israel	raw materials, diamonds, fuels, consumer goods	machinery, chemicals, textiles & apparel, diamonds, agricultural & high tech
Egypt	machinery, foodstuffs, chemicals, wood products, fuels	cotton, textiles, metal products, chemicals, petroleum & petroleum products
Saudi Arabia	machinery & equipment, foodstuffs, chemicals, motor vehicles, textiles	petroleum & petroleum products (90%)
Yemen	food & live animals, machinery & equipment	crude oil, coffee, dried & salted fish
Jordan	crude oil, machinery, transport equipment, live animals, manufactured goods	phosphates, fertilizers, potash, pharmaceuticals
Sudan	foodstuffs, manufactured goods, refinery & transport equipment, medicines & chemicals, textiles, wheat	oil & petroleum products, cotton, sesame, livestock, groundnuts, gum, sugar
Djibouti	foods, beverages, transport equipment, chemicals, petroleum products	re-exports, hides & skins, coffee (in transit)

As illustrated with the table above, with the exception of Israel, most of the main products that are traded by Red Sea inhabitants are either low tech, or agricultural industries. Also, 90% of Saudi Arabia’s exports are petroleum and petroleum products. This is very interesting, as Saudi Arabia is one of the leading exporters in the world of petroleum. Over 40% of those exports are shipped through the Red Sea, and Suez Canal.
With the exception of Djibouti, all countries have petroleum as a primary export or import. This could be a strong concern, as an oil spill disaster seems imminent. This threat is exacerbated, as there are no current navigation routes for ships going either Northbound or Southbound within the Red Sea.

Major Economic Indicators of the Red Sea's Coastal Inhabitants
	Israel	Saudi Arabia	Jordan	Egypt	Sudan	Djibouti	Yemen
Aid % of GDP	0.70%	NA	6.60%	1.30%	2.00%	12.90%	3.10%
Budget (revenues)	40.0b	42.0b	2.9b	21.5b	1.6b	.14b	3b
Budget (expenditures)	42.4b	54b	3.1b	26.2b	1.9b	.18b	3.1b
Current Account Balance	-2.3b	14.5b	-10.0m	-0.4b	-10.2b	NA	NA
External Debt	42.8b	23.8b	8.2b	29.0b	24.9b	.36b	4.7b
Gini Index	38: 53/109	NA	36:64/109	29:96/109	NA	NA	NA
Nominal Exports	28.0b	66.9b	2.5b	7.1b	2.1b	.26b	3.9b
Nominal Imports	30.8b	29.7b	4.4b	7.5b	1.8b	.44b	3.0b
Nominal GDP	122.0b	241b	22.8b	258b	49.3b	.59b	14.8b
GDP per capita	20,233.00	10,249.00	4,295.00	3,648.00	1,329.00	1,239.00	791.00
GDP growth (1975-200)	2.00%	-2.20%	0.40%	2.90%	0.60%	-5.00%	NA
GDP growth (1990- 2000)	2.20%	-1.20%	1.00%	2.50%	5.60%	-3.90%	2.30%
Gender Income ratio	0.50%	NA	NA	0.40%	NA	NA	NA
Gross National Income	107.0b	181b	8.78b	99.63b	10.7b	.57b	8.2b
Inflation Rate	5.70%	1.70%	3.30%	2.30%	10.00%	2.00%	10.00%
Net foreign Investment	4.00%	NA	6.70%	1.30%	3.40%	0.00%	-2.40%
Annual Tourist Arrivals	2.0m	3.6m	1.3m	3.7m	.03m	NA	NA
% of Trade in goods	62.60%	53.30%	80.80%	17.20%	25.60%	30.10%	60.10%

Interesting comments
• Gini Index (an index that ranks family income distribution of all countries). What is interesting is that 4 of the 7 coastal inhabitants of the Red Sea do not have this statistic recorded. And the ones that do have it recorded, with the exception of Israel, are ranked in the bottom 50% of this index.
• GDP per capita. Most of the coastal inhabitants of the Red Sea can be categorized as third world countries. What is a prime concern is the lack of regulatory and restrictive laws on environmental issues, which usually are not a prime concern for governing entities of third world countries. With the lack of regulatory laws, fishing, polluting and unrestrictive coastal development can increase dramatically.
• Gender Income Ratio. Israel and Egypt are the only two countries of the coastal inhabitants that have this statistic recorded.
• % of trade in goods. These goods are presumably shipped through shipping routes in the Red Sea. Four of the eight countries, have this figure higher than 50%. Three of those four countries (Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt), are the biggest economies in the region.

The Gulf of Aqaba

The Gulf of Aqaba has been a tourist retreat for decades. Comprising of three main major resort sites on the Red Sea:
Aqaba, Jordan.
Eilat, Israel.
Taba, Egypt.

Further development has been planned to capacitate the demand of tourists and investors in the area.
The Israeli resort city of Eilat has experienced a massive surge in influx of tourism and investment. Plans further include for additional hotels to be built and an inland deep water port. Meanwhile the Jordanian port city of Aqaba has been expanded. Construction processes will still continue, as Jordan has yet to exploit its concession to develop an estimated 25 km of Saudi Arabian coastline bordering Aqaba.
Recognizing these developments, there has been a grave concern for the reason why tourists actually come to visit these resorts. Being a scuba diver, I myself have scuba dived many times in this particular area, and over the years have witnessed the declining state of the corals and its reefs. The coral reef itself is extraordinary; one fifth of the area’s species are unique to the red sea. It features multi-colored delicate corals and a vast array of maritime species. The explanation for the declining state of this eco-system is unavoidably apparent. Visitors exploit The Red Sea’s unique natural beauty, by snorkeling, scuba diving and in some cases fishing its waters. Unqualified divers or snorkelers decimate the corals by either treading on them accidentally or by dragging up sand from the sea while diving, which invariably affects their habitat. Such sedimentation is deadly to the coral’s delicate environment.
Another environmental concern in the Gulf has been the ominous threat of an oil spill. Through a peace treaty signed with Egypt in 1978, Israel purchases and ships 2.5 million tons of oil each year from Southern Sinai. This oil is shipped to the Southern port city of Eilat, and pumped to refineries in various parts of the country. What is feared most is a spill from these tankers which can immeasurably harm the existing fragile eco-system in the Gulf. Recognizing that there is a degree of animosity between the Gulf’s coastal inhabitants, coordination for a clean-up of a potential oil spill is another crucial concern.

Declining maritime species of the Red Sea

The Red Sea is one of the most significant habitats of aquatic diversity in the world. Its isolation and physical conditions have led to extraordinary ranges of maritime ecosystems and biological diversity. Its most notorious feature is the intricate arrangement of coral reefs. The Red Sea also encompasses a large number of mangroves and sea grass beds. Specie variance is tremendously abundant, particularly among groups of reef fishes and reef–associated invertebrates. The following is some of the major unique specimens, which have been declining in the Red Sea:

Coral reefs

The Red Sea encompasses 200 different species of corals in its waters. Because the sea is relatively isolated, the absence of fresh water input provides a very tenable condition for the formation of coral reefs along its coastline. This formation is very noticeable along the coast of the Northern part of the sea, which is most frequented by tourists. In the Southern part of the Red Sea, coral reefs on the coastline gradually recede, and are replaced by sandy shallow shorelines and mangroves. Coral reefs do exist in this region, but are present only in deeper parts of the Sea. The declining state of coral reefs, as explained earlier derives from increasing activity in construction and tourism along the Red Sea coastline.

Sea turtles

One of the most delicate yet divine creatures that reside in the Red Sea is sea turtles. Recognizing that there is an overabundance of fishing, and accidental capture by fisherman of this creature, sea turtle populations have rapidly been decimating over the years, especially in Southern areas of the region.

Sharks

The black tip and the white tip reef shark, are the two main sharks that swim the sea’s waters. There has been an evident decline in the number of sharks in the region in recent years. Explanations include uncontrolled and deregulated fishing in Southern areas, and an increase of activity from motor boats, which leads to sound level aggravation in the Northern region. Sharks are migratory, and therefore may have relocated their repositories towards habitats in the Indian Ocean.

Ariga

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