In the UAE, the removal of irrigated pivot fields impacts this species.This species is of global significance given its global listing as Critically Endangered. It is likely that the main drivers of the global decline come from outside of UAE, and so these external threats are likely also the main threats to the population that visits the country. Care should be given though to make sure that any relevant threats are not present in the country, or do not spread into the UAE.Globally, it now appears that illegal hunting during migration and on the wintering grounds may be the primary threat (M. A. Koshkin, J. Kamp and R. D. Sheldon in litt. 2007 et al. 2008, Fisher unpublished 2016). Data from 2005-2012 suggest that low adult survival, perhaps resulting from known hunting pressure along the migration routes, appears to be the most critical demographic rate (Sheldon et al. 2013).Other key factors explaining the magnitude of declines remain poorly understood, despite much recent research. On the breeding grounds, it was probably formerly threatened by the conversion of steppe to arable cultivation, plus, perhaps less likely, the reduction in grazing by large herds of native ungulates and, latterly, by the loss of the enormous herds of domestic grazing animals from state-sponsored collective farms (Eichhorn and Khrokov 2002, Watson et al. 2006). However, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, large areas of arable cultivation have been abandoned and are reverting to natural steppe habitat, herds of domestic livestock have become concentrated around villages (where their permanent presence leads to shorter swards than were created by the vast herds that grazed semi-nomadically under the Soviet system), while an increase in fires (owing to reduced control of fires) may also have contributed to an increase in suitable habitat. These factors may be behind the possible increase in numbers (at least in parts of Kazakhstan) in recent years (Watson et al. 2006, M. A. Koshkin, J. Kamp and R. D. Sheldon in litt. 2007). Concentration of nests in heavily grazed areas in the vicinity of villages may have increased threats from human disturbance and trampling by sheep, goats and possibly other livestock (Watson et al. 2006, M. A. Koshkin, J. Kamp and R. D. Sheldon in litt. 2007). Low egg survival due to nesting in areas of high grazer density has been suggested as one of the causes for the species' decline (Watson et al. 2006). The species may be affected by the increasingly dry climate in its breeding and wintering range, but it is not clear if this benefits or threatens this semi-desert species (Watson et al. 2006). Agricultural expansion and intensification, overgrazing and loss of steppe habitats all pose threats to stopover sites used by the species (Ashoori et al. 2013, Sheldon 2013, Asswad 2014). An irrigation project distributing water from the;Atatürk dam to fields around Ceylanpinar may have a negative impact on the species as the habitats change (Fisher unpublished 2016).