SANA'A May 28. 2024 (Saba) - Yemen has a unique biological diversity due to its distinguished geographical location, high mountainous terrain, and varying climate, which contributed to creating diverse environments that helped flourish plant and animal diversity.
Yemen, along with the world's countries, celebrates the International Day for Biological Diversity 2024, or the International Day for Biodiversity, which falls on May 22 of each year, and was approved by the United Nations as a global day to highlight biodiversity issues.
In an interview with the Yemeni News Agency (Saba), Abdullah Abu Al-Futouh, Director of Biodiversity and Point of Contact for International Agreements at the Environmental Protection Agency considered the celebration of International Day for Biological Diversity 2024, or World Biodiversity Day an important occasion to raise awareness of the importance of preserving the environment, and to take effective measures to combat threats and the dangers facing this diversity.
He explained that Yemen's terrain varies significantly from high mountainous heights to low coastal plains, which contributes to creating a variety of environmental habitats.
He said: "Yemen is a country of lush green mountains and deep valleys full of trees and colorful flowers, making it a huge oasis and one of the countries in the region richest in biological diversity."
He added: “Biodiversity in Yemen is important on both the environmental and economic levels. Regarding the environmental aspect, biodiversity preserves the natural balance in ecosystems and enhances their sustainability. Thanks to this rich diversity, Yemen works to combat desertification, as rare trees are considered a barrier that prevents the spread of sand, and thus It contributes to maintaining environmental balance.”
Abu Al-Futouh pointed out that biodiversity, in terms of the economic aspect, provides many opportunities for developing the tourism, agricultural, and industrial sectors, indicating that Yemen’s plants are rich and unchanging in characteristics, and include nearly three thousand species.
He reported that the habitats in Yemen also contain a large number of unique species of plants, noting that 71 species of wild mammals have been recorded in Yemen, belonging to eight animal orders, including bats.
He pointed out that Yemen represents a golden triangle of animal diversity, as the most venomous snakes and reptiles in the world can be found, as well as endangered rodents and mammals, Yemen is distinguished by the presence of more than 363 species of birds, representing 18 orders, 61 families, and 177 genera.
The Director General of Biodiversity at the Environmental Protection Authority stated that although Yemen still maintains its rich biological diversity, environmental challenges are constantly increasing, including assault on wildlife and the destruction of natural sites due to unsustainable human activities such as desertification, unregulated afforestation, deforestation, and illegal hunting.
He stated that these risks threaten a large number of endangered plants and animals, which greatly affects the environment, stressing the necessity of official and community cooperation to preserve this valuable biological diversity and encourage environmental initiatives that enhance environmental sustainability.
He said: "It requires cooperation and joint efforts to preserve the natural resources and rich ecosystems that the country abounds in, ensuring the sustainability of biological diversity in Yemen is enough to preserve the precious environmental heritage for future generations."
He concluded his speech by emphasizing that biological diversity in Yemen is not just a natural wealth that benefits Yemen only, but rather it is a human responsibility to preserve the diversity of life... stressing the importance of unifying efforts to preserve this important wealth and implementing the necessary measures to ensure the continuity of biological diversity in Yemen and all parts of the world.
M.M
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