Qatar Research Paper (Research Paper Sample)

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Qatar Country
Qatar is a Middle-East country that lies on the Qatari Peninsula, which is a part of the Arabian Peninsula (Famdliflc.lingnet.org, 2010). The Qatari Peninsula lies on a seismically stable region, which reduces its exposure to earthquakes. It is one of the smallest non-island nations in the world, and is even smaller than Connecticut State of the United States. It is a constitutional monarch and it emerged in the early 1970s from being a protectorate of the United Kingdom (Famdliflc.lingnet.org, 2010). It is one of the richest countries in the world, and has vast reserves of oil and natural gas. Doha is its capital city and largest city, and the home to most of the country’s population.
The country measures about 160km (100 miles) from north to south and between 55km and 80km (34-50miles) from east to west (Famdliflc.lingnet.org, 2010). It occupies around 11437 square kilometres of land. The Persian Gulf, a shallow sea that is joined to the Indian Ocean by the Arabian Sea, surrounds the nation on three sides. The shallowness of the gulf makes reduces the country’s exposure to tsunamis. The nation has its only land border with Saudi Arabia on its southern side (Famdliflc.lingnet.org, 2010). It shares a maritime border with Bahrain to the northwest, with United Arab Emirates to the east, and with Iran to the north. Most parts of the country are flat. Qurayn Abu al Bawl, also known as Tuwayyir al Hamir, a rise in the southern portion of the country’s central limestone plateau, is the highest point of the country at 103m (338ft) above sea level. Jabal Dukhan (Dukan Heights) is the second highest point in the country at 75m (246 ft.) and is found on the western edge of the nation. The elevation generally decreases from 100m above sea level in the south to less than 50m in the north (Famdliflc.lingnet.org, 2010).
Qatar has extremely sparse vegetation. This lack of vegetation reduces the chances of large-scale fire hazards (Famdliflc.lingnet.org, 2010). It has crescent-shaped sand dunes (barchans) and salt flats in the southeast near Khawr al Udayd lagoon, which are remnants of evaporated saline lakes, leaving flat areas with sand, silt, salt, and gypsum deposits. The western part of the country has a large sand dune, which is to the east of the Jabal Dukhan. The sand dunes are known as sabhkats and are the main most distinctive geomorphologic features in the nation, occupying almost 7% of the country’s surface. There are mangrove wetlands along parts of the country’s eastern coast, which is north of Doha. The wetlands are important breeding areas for many species of fish and crustaceans. They are also important nesting areas for birds such as egrets and herons. The mangroves have however suffered from overgrazing, reclamation of costal land, and oil seepage from offshore wells.
The country lies in a rocky desert, which, in addition to lack of high mountains reduces the chances of floods. It has scattered oases all over that are formed by over 850 different depressions. Calcareous loam, sandy loam, and sandy clay loam accumulate in the depressions, and are used in agriculture (Famdliflc.lingnet.org, 2010). The country has a total cultivated area of 6322 hectares, of which 1190 hectares are under vegetable crops, and 1461 hectares under field crops.
Oil and natural gas are the major natural resources in the country. Its oil reserves make up to 1.3% of the world’s total reserves. It is the chief source of energy, but because of the large supply, a large amount of crude oil is exported to foreign countries to earn foreign exchange for the country. The country has the third largest gas reserves in the world, which hold around 15% of the world’s natural gas resources. The reserves lie mainly in the offshore north field across the maritime border between Qatar and Iran. The economy of the nation mainly depends on oil and natural gas, with up to 85% of the country’s export revenue and 70% of all government revenue being from the exports of oil and natural gas.
Qatar has no permanent rivers and so recharge of groundwater from rainwater is the main source of water. The 850 depressions discussed elsewhere in this paper make two-thirds of the land surface. The depressions have interior drainage and catchment areas that vary from between 0.25km2 to 45km2 (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2014). They cover a total area of 6942km2, which collects an estimated 55.9million m3 of water per year. Inflow of water from Saudi Arabia is the other source of groundwater, with an estimated 2.2 million m3 flowing into the country every year. Fresh groundwater comes from two aquifers. Approximately 59% of the water is used for agricultural purposes, 39% for municipal purposes, and 2% for industrial use (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2014). Since Qatar is arid, agriculture would be impossible without irrigation. Surface irrigation is the most common method of irrigation in the country. This method consumes a lot of water. Water use efficiency can be increased by use of sprinkler irrigation and localised irrigation. The availability of water for irrigation has attracted five commercial companies to the 17 public and state-owned farms. Major crops produced under irrigation include green fodder such as alfalfa, vegetables such as tomatoes and melons, fruit trees such as dates and citrus, and cereals such as barley, wheat, and maize. However, since the available water is not sufficient to support large-scale agriculture, there are low crop yields and the country imports most agricultural products. Other factors contributing to low crop yields include low quality of water, unfertile soils, harsh climatic conditions, and poor water management. To manage water use, the government has established ministries and institutions responsible for water development, planning, and management, the main ones being the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture, which manages agricultural use of groundwater, the Drainage Affairs of Public Work Authority, which manages the collection, treatment, and distribution of wastewater to farms. The Central Laboratory of the Ministry of Public Health analyses the chemical and biological contaminants in drinking water (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2014).
The nation has a population of over 1.7 million people. According to the census of 2010, the Qataris make around 11% of the population, making them a minority in their own country (Famdliflc.lingnet.org, 2010), with the rest being foreign workers from countries such as India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, and their families...