Bahrain Trying to Halt Decimation of Palm Trees
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MANAMA, Bahrain — The government is trying to halt an alarming decline in palm trees on the Persian Gulf island state in recent decades, a government official says.
Sheik Mohammed bin Abdul-Wahab al Khalifa, director of research for the Ministry of Commerce and Agriculture, said last week that in the last 30 to 40 years the number of Bahrain’s palm trees has dwindled from about 1 million to a little more than 250,000.
Mohammed, a U.S.-educated prince in Bahrain’s ruling family, blamed the decline on widespread urbanization, the increasing salinity of underground reservoirs and an agricultural trend toward more profitable vegetable growing.
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