Oman ecotourism an investment target

A com­mit­tee involving MECA and MoT was formed earli­er this year to pre­pare strategies and plans for the devel­op­ment of eco­tour­ism in nature reserves across Oman, includ­ing stand­ards for the pro­tec­tion and con­ser­va­tion of wild­life, her­it­age, nat­ur­al resources, tour­ism diversity, and the exploit­a­tion of these resources in a sus­tain­able way. The com­mit­tee is reportedly look­ing to involve loc­al communities.

Min­is­ter of Envir­on­ment and Cli­mate Affairs Mohammed bin Salim bin Said al Toobi said: “The sul­tan­ate is one of the first coun­tries in the region to set envir­on­ment­al require­ments for devel­op­ment pro­jects as well as sup­port­ing sus­tain­able development.”

In April, MoT revealed that investors had shown interest in devel­op­ing a wild­life reserve in South Shar­qiyah and a geo­lo­gic­al won­der in Al Wusta. A Kuwaiti investor wants to devel­op the Al Saleel Wild­life Reserve in the wilay­at of Al Kamil W’al Wafi in South Shar­qiyah. And a loc­al investor is look­ing to devel­op the Rock Garden in Duqm, Al Wusta governorate.

Min­is­ter of Tour­ism Nas­s­er bin Hamad al Mehrzi said these would rep­res­ent the first private sec­tor involve­ments in a nature reserve and an area of geo­lo­gic­al import­ance in Oman.

Ara­bi­an oryx (Oryx leu­coryx) in the Dubai Desert Con­ser­va­tion Area, UAE. By Char­lesJSharp (CC BY-SA 3.0) Wiki­me­dia.

Oman has the unfor­tu­nate dis­tinc­tion of hav­ing the first site de-lis­ted by the World Her­it­age Com­mit­tee since UNESCO’s 1972 Con­ven­tion con­cern­ing the Pro­tec­tion of the World Cul­tur­al and Nat­ur­al Her­it­age entered into force. In June 2007, the Com­mit­tee took the unpre­ced­en­ted decision to remove the Ara­bi­an Oryx Sanc­tu­ary, home to a rare ante­lope, from UNESCO’s World Her­it­age List. The site was de-lis­ted because of Oman’s decision to reduce the size of the pro­tec­ted area by 90% in order to pur­sue “hydro­car­bon prospection”.

The site was under­per­form­ing any­way. In 1996, the pop­u­la­tion of the Ara­bi­an oryx at the site was 450 but by 2007 it had dwindled to 65 with only four breed­ing pairs. This decline was due to poach­ing and hab­it­at degrad­a­tion. After extens­ive con­sulta­tion with the State Party, the Com­mit­tee felt that the uni­lat­er­al decision to reduce the size of the Sanc­tu­ary would des­troy the value and integ­rity of the prop­erty, which is also home to oth­er endangered spe­cies includ­ing, the Ara­bi­an gazelle and the houbara bustard.

Sources:  Mus­cat Daily, UNESCO.

Fea­tured image: Wadi Shab, Oman. By Ian Sewell (CC BY 2.5) via Wiki­pe­dia.