Qatar is the first country in the Middle East and the Arab world to have its own panda habitat, as envisioned in the 2021 budget of the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME).
Pandas live mainly in temperate forests in the mountains of southwest China, where they subsist almost entirely on bamboo. Categorised by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) as vulnerable, it is estimated that just over 1,800 pandas are left in the wild.
The panda habitat is among the new service projects by the MME, which also includes 18 new parks across the country. The project is to be undertaken by Ashghal who has offered a tender to create the habitat according to the required standards, following the climate specifications for the well-being of the panda.
Other major MME projects for 2021 include the following:
- Waste segregation plant in Al Khor
- Development of animal farm complexes (Al Al Azab)
- Upgrading of MME laboratories with advanced equipment
- Infrastructure development of recycling plant in Al Afjah
- Construction of a new sanitary landfill in Mesaieed
- Rehabilitation of old landfills
- Construction of windbreaks using perennial trees as buffer to block sandstorms
- Roadsides beautification
The projects are part of MME’s action plan under the National Development Strategy 2018-2022. For updates and more information, visit the MME website at mme.gov.qa.
Source: Gulf Times