Yemen Observer: http://www.yobserver.com

EU calls upon UNESCO to rank Socotra among environmental heritages

Posted in: Front Page
Written By: Mohammed al-Kibsi
Article Date: Apr 20, 2008 - 1:13:09 AM
socatras.jpg
Socotra’s unique beauty captures the attention of the European Union who will support its development and inclusion into UNESCO’s environmental heritage.
The European Union called on the United Nations Education Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) and the International Organization of Protecting Environment to classify Socotra Archipelago among the international environmental heritages.

The ambassadors of the European Union in Yemen are to visit the Socotra archipelago on April 16 through 18, aiming to show their support for protecting the environment in the island and to express their worry of any possible development in the spheres of infrastructure and economy that might ignore the uniqueness of the places of the island that should be preserved, stated in a press statement issued by the French Embassy in Sana’a last Tuesday.

The statement stated that the Socotra archipelago has its own unique nature and cultural and human scene that is of great value for all humanity. Therefore, the archipelago has been paid great concern by the Yemeni authorities and by a great number of states that have been paying practical and material efforts aiming at funding a number of projects and programs for preserving the archipelago and boosting sustainable development for its inhabitants.

At the same time the EU intends to support any work to be conducted by the Yemeni government for preserving the archipelago and for insuring better administration of the environment of the island and its sustainable development.

Regarding this concern, the statement said that the European Union welcomes the Yemeni government’s decision for establishing an independent transparent authority that has the capacity of planning and monitoring the economic, social, and environmental development of Socotra. 

However based on its serious concern about establishing roads and infrastructure, the European Union called on the Yemeni government to adopt a general plan that takes into consideration the requirements for protecting the environment, natural landscape, the costal areas and the cultural heritage of the inhabitants of the island.

In response, the EU has asked the Yemeni government to pay special attention to the current plan concerning establishing infrastructure in order for this plan not to cause serious damage to the environment and to  natural landscape that cannot be compensated.

The statement said that classifying the archipelago among the international environment heritages by the UNESCO would be an international certificate for the uniqueness of the island and would allow for the providing of  distinguished strategic resources for maintaining the policies that aim at preserving the islands of the archipelago and its sustainable development.