- EEHC Burullus Power Plant is under construction within an area that is considered a protected area, an Important Bird Area (IBA) and a Ramsar Site. The ESIA previously conducted for the project (Al Amar 2015), recognized the importance of the site for birds and biodiversity. Disturbance was recognized as a primary impact on the fauna of the adjacent region.
- Environics was commissioned, in cooperation with Environmental Resources Management (ERM), to design and conduct a field study to monitor and assess the impact of disturbance due to construction activities at the Burullus Power Plant on wintering birds in adjacent wetland and marine/coastal habitats during the winter season of 2016.
- The firm undertook a bird monitoring program along two transects adjacent to the project site and surveyed bird populations in the main waterbirds habitats along the two transects.
- The survey design followed a sampling approach to maximize the coverage and representation of the key habitats of concern and importance for wintering waterbirds within the Burullus region.
- The research design depended mainly on one data collection protocol: Point counts, and to a lesser extent opportunistic observations.
- Environics prepared the study report which included: the methodology, a brief description of the different types of habitat, birds numbers by habitat/ location and date, and analysis of the results to show bird population, responses to disturbance and other factors.
