Symposium on Wildlife Protection and Development in the GCC Region
Bahrain 16-18 January 1995
Final Report and Recommendations
Under the patronage of HH Shaikh Hamad bin isal Al- Khalifa, The
Crown Prince and Commander-in-Chief of the Bahrain Defence Force,
The Symposium on Wildlife Protection & Development in the GCC
Region was held in Bahrain from 16-18 January 1995 at the Sheraton
Hotel.
The Symposium was organized by the National Committee for Wildlife
Protection (NCWP) in collaboration with GCC General Secretariat.
The Symposium was attended by 120 participants from the region
as well as five participants who represented the IUCN and the
UNEP.
The Symposium was officially opened by HE Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed
Al-Khalifa, The Head of the Crown Prince Court and Chairman of
the NCWP.
Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa then delivered the speech of
NCWP. This was followed by speeches from Dr Fahmi Al Ali of GCC
General Secretariat and Dr Ismail Al-Madani Chairman of the Symposium
organizing committee.
Later Dr. Abdulaziz Abuzinada, the Secretary General of NCWCD
of Saudi Arabia, briefed the participants on the experiences and
efforts of NCWCD exerted in the field of wildlife.
The Symposium consisted of six sessions in which 50 papers were
presented. The papers covered various important topics, e.g. features
of natural habitat in the region, necessity for protection of
biodiversity, scientific actions and efforts aiming to increase
and reintroduce endangered species, e.g. the Arabian oryx and
houbara bustard, establishment of protected areas and issuing
legislation relating to wildlife protection as well as education
and environmental awareness.
The participants exchanged views and concluded that the habitats
and ecosystems in most of the GCC states are facing difficult
pressures which may result in the extinction of some species and
decline of natural habitats of economic environmental and scientific
values. To minimize this phenomena and to increase the protection
of biological heritage in the GCC states, the participants recommended
the following:
I – National Level
1) Increase basic and applied scientific research in Universities
and Research Institutions to achieve the following:
a) Identify the living components of different habitats.
b) Categorize the natural habitats according to their status.
c) Provide species reference collections and establish data base.
d) Include the wildlife topics in education curricula at different
levels, when plans and strategies on eduction are formulated.
2) Take all necessary measures to evaluate and protect the natural
reserves and considering the Saudi Arabian experience, the participants
included:
a) Issue legislation to enforce the protection of wildlife and
create an effective system for monitoring and implementation.
b) Support efforts aimed at increasing the endangered animal species
in captivity.
c) Identify diseases which affect wild species with high environmental
value and to find ways for treatment and prevention.
3) Take all necessary steps to verify the important international
conventions relating to wildlife and in particular:
a) Bio-diversity
b) CITES
c) CMS
d) RAMSAR
The participants would appreciate if the Secretariat could organize
a meeting with State Members for all those concerned in this field
in order to speed up the ratification of above- mentioned conventions.
4) Establish education centres to prepare awareness programmes
for the public, in particular for the younger generation, and
concentrate mainly on native species like Arabian leopard, Arabian
oryx and houbara bustard.
5) Invite societies and non-governmental organizations to participate
in the activities of wildlife protection and development, particularly
in the field of public awareness.
6) Involve the mass media in the campaign on topics related to
protection of wildlife and development.
II – Regional Level
1) Establish a Gulf Committee to co-ordinate efforts among the
GCC states in the field of wildlife protection and development
in the region.
2) Establish a network to exchange information on wildlife in
the region.
3) Take necessary steps to speed up the approval of the unified
system for wildlife protection and development in the GCC states.
4) Take all necessary measures to control the introduction of
exotic plants and animal species in the natural habitats of the
region.
5) Provide a list of all rare and endangered plant and animal
species.
6) Organize similar meetings once every two years.
III – International Level
1) The participants appreciated all the experiences of the international
organizations in the field of wildlife protection and development
and recommended that the GCC states utilize such experience and
cooperate with these organizations, in particular the IUCN and
UNEP.
2) Due to the importance of international meetings and conferences
related to wildlife protection and development, the participants
recommend the active involvement in such meetings by GCC states.
Professor Saeed Mohammed
Studies of fossils to be found in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi,
part of the United Arab Emirates, suggest that 6 million years
ago, the Arabian peninsula acted as a land bridge between Africa
and Asia, playing a key role in the evolution of the fauna of
today, scientists now believe.
Meeting in Jebel Dhanna, west of Abu Dhabi, in early March for
the first ever international conference on the Fossil Vertebrates
of Arabia, scientists from Britain, Europe, and the United States,
all specialists in palaeontology, evaluated the results of several
years of work undertaken in a project jointly run by the Natural
History Museum in London and Yale University.
The research project has produced extensive evidence of terrestrial
mammals and other species, some of which are new to science, such
as an early ancestor of the horse, named Hipparion abudhabiensis,
and a new species and genus of gerbillids, Abudhabia baynunensis.
Also found were remains of early ancestors of the elephant, hippopotamus,
sabre-toothed cat and other mammals, as well as turtles and two
species of birds, one probably a member of the egret family.
Sedimentological studies suggest that a great river once drained
into the Arabian Gulf through western Abu Dhabi, with the fossil
finds indicating the presence along its banks and the neighbouring
flood plains of a varied fauna in a landscape that was probably
fairly similar to today’s east African savannahs.
The Miocene outcrops in which the fossils have been found stretch
over an area of around 140 km along the Abu Dhabi coastline. Named
the Baynunah Formation, after the area in which they are found,
they contain the best collection of terrestrial fossils from the
Late Miocene period so far discovered anywhere in Arabia.
Of particular importance is the suggestion that the Abu Dhabi
area, and the rest of the peninsula, may have been used as a land
bridge between Africa and Asia, perhaps crossing into Africa from
the south-west of the peninsula before the gradual widening of
Africa’s great Rift Valley opened up the Red Sea at the Bab al
mandeb.
The conference, inaugurated by the UAE Minister of Higher Education
and Scientific Research, Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak al Nahyan,
was co-sponsored by the Ministry and by the Abu Dhabi Company
for Onshore Oil Operations, which has been the major source of
funds for the research study, with additional support from the
Abu Dhabi National Hotels Company.
Peter Hellyer
Fragile Environments: People and Tourism
Agenda 21, the plan for action approved by the 1992 UN Conference
on Environment and Development, recognized that many of the world’s
environments are fragile, in terms not only of their ecology,
but also the cultures of their inhabitants. Four of these fragile
environments are mountains, arctic areas, deserts and savannah.
A conference held at the Royal Geographical Society, London on
28 September 1994, convened by Dr Martin Price (Environmental
Change Unit, University of Oxford) and attended by speakers and
delegates from governments, consultancies, non-governmental organizations
(NGO’s), and academia, considered how tourism may be integrated
into the cultures and economies of people living in these four
fragile environments.
The tourism industry’s increasing commitment towards long-term
perspectives to ensure the future of the environments and societies
that are essential to the industry’s future was underlined. Participants
stressed the necessity of community-based regional planning and
emphasized the importance of involving local communities in the
assessment and minimization of problems relating to tourism as
well as in the designation of national parks. The role of NGO’s
in the complex relationships of economic development, cultural
change, tourism, and wildlife management was also outlined.
The papers delivered at this conference will be incorporated into
a book to be published as a joint venture between the RGS and
John Wiley, publishers.
Martin Price