Conservation

The floras of oceanic island are often particularly rich in species and show a high degree of endemism. Soqotra is no exception. It has one of the richest island floras in the world - on a par with those of the Galapagos, Mauritius, Juan Fernandez and the Canary Islands. However, island ecosystems are often fragile and their native species vulnerable to overgrazing from introduced herbivores and to being out-competed by exotic plant species. The threats to the Soqotran flora can be illustrated by considering the fate of the vegetation on other oceanic islands. The decimation of Dracaena draco on the Canary Islands and Madeira is a particularly relevant example. On Soqotra Dracaena cinnabari is widespread over the centre and east of the island and is the dominant tree in some areas. In the Canary Islands its closest relative, D. draco, is reduced to five trees on Madeira and is extinct on four of the seven Canary islands with no more than 200 trees surviving on the other three islands. On St Helena the vegetation has been almost totally decimated. Goats were introduced on to the island in 1513. By 1800 the forests which originally covered the islands were reduced to a few remnants and it has been estimated that, of the probable 100 endemics on the island, only 40 now remain.

On Soqotra the situation is at present far healthier. The first settlers probably arrived on Soqotra about 500 BC and since then various types of stock including cattle, goats, camels, sheep and asses have been introduced. There were undoubtedly drastic changes to the vegetation and widespread extinctions in the past but now a balance seems to have been established between man and nature. There is no evidence to suggest that the situation on the island has changed much since Balfour's visit in 1880. There seem to have been no extinctions since Balfour's time and certainly the suggestion that the island's flora has been decimated by huge goat herds (Lucas et al. 1978 etc.) is totally unfounded. However, proposed development on the island could see the situation deteriorate very rapidly.

At present the Yemen Government has no official conservation policy for Soqotra. Traditional practices on the island include, for instance, restrictions on cutting live wood and livestock management which prevents overgrazing. Any management plan for the islands should seek to encourage these practices. At a local level many islanders recognise the importance of the vegetation to support their way of life and there is an awareness, at least amongst the local authorities on the island, that the plants are special and of international interest. There is a strong feeling at both local and higher levels of government levels that some conservation policy is needed. The Conservation Unit in the Forestry Section of the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, based on the mainland at El-Kod near Aden, is planning, together with the WWF a conservation management scheme.