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Ma’aden, Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu Establish Mangrove Park to Preserve Coastal Ecosystems

The agreement was signed by Ma’aden CEO Robert Wilt and Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu CEO Mahmood Al Theeb
The agreement was signed by Ma’aden CEO Robert Wilt and Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu CEO Mahmood Al Theeb
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Ma’aden, Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu Establish Mangrove Park to Preserve Coastal Ecosystems

The agreement was signed by Ma’aden CEO Robert Wilt and Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu CEO Mahmood Al Theeb
The agreement was signed by Ma’aden CEO Robert Wilt and Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu CEO Mahmood Al Theeb

Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu to establish a mangrove park in the Kingdom, supporting carbon sequestration and biodiversity preservation.

The agreement was signed by Ma’aden CEO Robert Wilt and Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu CEO Mahmood Al Theeb, in the presence of Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdulrahman Al-Fadley, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef, and Deputy Minister for Mining Affairs Khalid Al-Mudaifer at the Saudi Green Initiative (SGI) which took place during the COP28 climate summit in Dubai.

Under the agreement, Ma’aden and the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu will develop a mangrove park and support planting initiatives on Gurmah Island in Jubail, which houses a rich natural mangrove habitat.

The two parties will also cooperate on research initiatives relating to mangrove planting and ecosystem health and will develop local community programs that support ecosystem restoration and improve environmental awareness.

"This partnership is focused on preserving the Kingdom’s unique natural environment. Mangroves provide one of the most effective natural carbon-capture ecosystems and our ability strategy provides a roadmap towards restoring and enhancing the biodiversity of our coastline, in line with Ma’aden’s vision for sustainable growth in Saudi Arabia," Wilt said.

According to Al Theeb, the “partnership with Ma’aden will continue to preserve and expand mangrove ecosystems in Jubail."

“Together we will develop impactful initiatives that benefit the local community and contribute to the Kingdom’s sustainability objectives,” he said.

Ma’aden also launched a dedicated mangrove plantation strategy during SGI that aims to protect existing forests, restore degraded areas and contribute to carbon reduction and biodiversity enhancement. The company has committed to planting 10 million terrestrial trees and 10 million mangroves by 2040, in line with its ambitions as an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) leader to be carbon neutral by 2050.

The strategy supports the Saudi Green Initiative’s target to plant 100 million mangroves in Saudi Arabia by 2030, which will offset around 96 million tons of carbon emissions and help to stabilize the Kingdom’s coastline ecosystems.

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Jungle Music: Chimp Drumming Reveals Building Blocks of Human Rhythm

In this photo provided by researchers, a wild male chimpanzee produces a pant-hoot call to elicit a response from distant group members and reunite with them in the Budongo Forest of Uganda in June 2016. (Adrian Soldati via AP)
In this photo provided by researchers, a wild male chimpanzee produces a pant-hoot call to elicit a response from distant group members and reunite with them in the Budongo Forest of Uganda in June 2016. (Adrian Soldati via AP)
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Jungle Music: Chimp Drumming Reveals Building Blocks of Human Rhythm

In this photo provided by researchers, a wild male chimpanzee produces a pant-hoot call to elicit a response from distant group members and reunite with them in the Budongo Forest of Uganda in June 2016. (Adrian Soldati via AP)
In this photo provided by researchers, a wild male chimpanzee produces a pant-hoot call to elicit a response from distant group members and reunite with them in the Budongo Forest of Uganda in June 2016. (Adrian Soldati via AP)

Like humans, chimpanzees drum with distinct rhythms - and two subspecies living on opposite sides of Africa have their own signature styles, according to a study published in Current Biology.

Previous work showed chimpanzees pound the huge flared buttress roots of rainforest trees to broadcast low‑frequency booms through dense foliage.

The idea that ape drumming might hold clues to the origins of human musicality has long fascinated scientists, but collecting enough clean data amid the cacophony of the jungle had, until now, proven elusive.

“Finally we've been able to quantify that chimps drum rhythmically - they don't just randomly drum,” lead author Vesta Eleuteri of the University of Vienna told AFP.

The findings lend fresh weight to the theory that the raw ingredients of human music were present before our evolutionary split from chimpanzees six million years ago.

For the new study, Eleuteri and colleagues - including senior authors Catherine Hobaiter of the University of St Andrews in the UK and Andrea Ravignani of Sapienza University in Rome - compiled more than a century's worth of observational data.

After cutting through the noise, the team focused on 371 high-quality drumming bouts recorded from 11 chimpanzee communities across six populations living in both rainforest and savannah-woodland habitats across eastern and western Africa.

Their analysis showed that chimpanzees drum with definitive rhythmic intent - the timing of their strikes is not random.

Distinct differences also emerged between subspecies: western chimpanzees tended to produce more evenly timed beats, while eastern chimpanzees more frequently alternated between shorter and longer intervals.

Western chimps also drummed more frequently, kept a quicker tempo, and began drumming earlier in their signature chimp calls, made up of rapid pants and hoots.

The researchers do not yet know what is driving the differences - but they propose that it might signify differences in social dynamics.

The western chimps' faster, predictable pulse might promote or be evidence of greater social cohesion, the authors argue, noting that western groups are generally less aggressive toward outsiders.

By contrast, the eastern apes' variable rhythms could carry extra nuance - handy for locating or signaling companions when their parties are more widely dispersed.

Next, Hobaiter says she would like to study the data further to understand whether there are intergenerational differences between rhythms within the same groups.

“Music is not only a difference between different musical styles, but a musical style like rock or jazz, is itself going to evolve over time,” she said.

“We're actually going to have to find a way to tease apart group and intergenerational differences to get at that question of whether or not it is socially learned,” she said. “Do you have one guy that comes in with a new style and the next generation picks it up?”