Socotra: Forming a committee to monitor violations on the coasts and nature reserves and develop a plan to address them

The local authority in the Yemeni Socotra Archipelago Governorate has formed a local committee to monitor and document violations on the coasts and nature reserves in the governorate, based on government directives and previous UN warnings to place the archipelago on the list of World Heritage in Danger.

According to a document published by the Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Muammar Al-Eryani, on the X platform, the committee formed by the governorate, headed by the deputy governor, Saleh Ali Saad, and the membership of 9 others, will work to monitor and document marine environmental violations and the use of lands on the coasts and nature reserves in the governorate, in line with the standards for protecting the world's natural heritage.

The decision assigned the committee to review the illegal activities that threaten biodiversity and nature reserves included on the UNESCO World Heritage List, in addition to developing a comprehensive action plan to address these violations in accordance with national laws and relevant international agreements.

The decision, dated January 12, set a one-week deadline for the committee to submit a report to the governor’s office, including recommendations and necessary measures to stop violations and ensure sustainable management of coasts and reserves.

● I would like to extend my thanks and appreciation to my brother, the Governor of Socotra Archipelago Governorate, His Excellency Engineer Raafat Al-Thaqali, for his constructive interaction with what was presented during my last visit to the governorate.
I commend his decision to form a committee of local authority leaders and relevant authorities, with the aim of monitoring and documenting violations and randomness on the coasts and reserves... pic.twitter.com/4jLaYuNb36

— Muammar Al-Eryani (@ERYANIM) January 13, 2025

And late last July, it was revealed Yemen's representative to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Dr. Mohammed Jumaih, said that the United Nations discussed placing Socotra Island on the list of world heritage in danger, for reasons related to (construction investments, unregulated urban expansion, intensive fishing operations, in addition to the introduction of plants from outside the island that affected the local plant life).

Jamih stressed that this warning represents a "wake-up call" before making the final classification decision, noting that he worked with delegations from sister and friendly countries to avoid placing the island on the danger list, while adhering to the requirements of UNESCO, which decided to send a monitoring committee to assess the situation.

The UAE, which is building military bases on the island and effectively controls it through the Transitional Council forces that it financed and supported to control the island in mid-2020, is accused of making changes to the island at the urban and cultural levels. It also accuses its affiliates of smuggling trees and coral reefs out of the island and carrying out illegal fishing of fish and unique marine creatures.

Socotra is the largest of the Yemeni islands, located near the Gulf of Aden and 200 miles off the main coast of Yemen. It is one of the most biologically diverse islands in the world. Socotra is famous for its unique and abundant wildlife, and for the presence of the unique dragon's blood tree. The archipelago was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008, to protect what is considered one of the most unique and biologically diverse islands in the world.

Naturalists and ecologists estimate that 37% of the island's 825 plant species, 90% of its reptiles and 95% of its land snails are found nowhere else in the world.