An alarm bell.. UNESCO is considering placing Socotra Island on the World Heritage List in Danger

The representative of Yemen to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Dr. Muhammad Jumaih, revealed the possibility of classifying Socotra Island on the World Heritage List in Danger.

Jumaih explained in a blog post on the X platform that the World Heritage Committee, in its current meetings in New Delhi, opened the file of Socotra Island, and indicated the possibility of placing it on the list of heritage in danger.

He attributed this to (construction investments, unregulated urban expansion, intensive fishing operations, in addition to the introduction of plants from outside the island, which affected the local plant life).

Jameh stressed that this warning represents a “warning bell” before the final classification decision is taken, noting that he worked with delegations of sisterly and friendly countries, during the past days, to avoid placing the island on the danger list, while adhering to the requirements of UNESCO, which decided to send a monitoring committee to evaluate the situation.

Jameh stressed the need to "legalize urban expansion and intensive fishing operations" and stop investment violations, stressing that "Socotra is protected and must be preserved."

Socotra is the largest of the Yemeni islands. It is located near the Gulf of Aden and 200 miles from the main coast of Yemen. It is one of the most biologically diverse islands in the world. Socotra Island is famous for its unique and abundant wildlife and the presence of the unique Blood of the Two Brothers tree. The archipelago has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 2008, to protect what is considered one of the most unique and biologically diverse islands in the world.

Naturalists and ecologists estimate that 37% of the island's 825 plant species, 90% of its reptiles and 95% of its land snails are found nowhere else in the world.

It accuses the UAE, which is building military bases on the island and effectively controls it through the Transitional Council forces that it financed and supported to take control of the island in the middle of 2020. It is accused of making changes on the island at the urban and cultural level, and it accuses its affiliated parties of smuggling trees and coral reefs off the island. And carrying out poaching operations for fish and unique marine creatures.