Socotra ArchipelagoNatural sanctuary announced [Archives:2003/650/Front Page]

Last Friday Socotra Archipelago was announced in the UNESCO center in Paris as a natural sanctuary among the international network of protected sanctuaries which are 440 sanctuaries in 97 countries.
Saba News agency quoted Dr. Hameed Al-Awadhi Yemen's ambassador to UNESCO as saying that the declaration had rendered the Socotra islands group the first sanctuary of its kind in Yemen and in the Arabian Peninsula.
This event promises great benefit to the whole region especially that it would mean protection of the rare elements found in the islands.
It is worth mentioning that Yemen has declared in the republican decree No. 275 for year 2000 that Socotra Islands groups which include Simha, Darsa, Abdu Kori, and their small isles were among protected environments in Yemen. It is probable that more efforts would be exerted in order to include other islands in the world network such as Otma and Hafash so as to protect the natural life in those islands and to maintain the natural variation in the biological life in the country.
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