With 10 endemic bird species Socotra now ranks alongside the Highlands of Yemen as the most important area for bird endemism in the whole of the Middle East, Europe, Central Asia and North Africa

News

• A Reuters agency journalist, Martina Fuchs, spent a week on Socotra to produce three video stories about the eco-tourism and nature of Socotra. The SCDP provided her with a guide, the EPA provided a car
• Socotra celebrates its first anniversary of being listed as the UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. The other Yemeni sites on the List are the Old Cities of Sana’a and Shibam and a historic town of Zabid
• A new UNDP-managed Socotra project SGBP, which started in June 2009 with Mr. Nadim Taleb as the National Project Coordinator, has introduced a new project logo
• An Irish photographer, Richard Boggs, has published a book of photographs titled The Lost World of Socotra. He spent two years on the island working as an English teacher. The book was published by Stacey International
• Kay Van Damme from the Ghent University will give a paper on Socotra at the first Conference on Biodiversity Conservation in the Arabian Peninsula that takes place in February 3 – 4, 2010 in Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates
• Three Socotran fishermen lost while fishing sharks in September 2009 happily returned back to Socotra in mid-January. They were saved by a ship heading to Bangladesh and brought back home with help of Yemeni authorities
• Second project board meeting was held in Hadibu, Socotra on February 11, 2010. Representatives of donors and stakeholders supervised progress in SGBP implementation and agreed on steps forward for next months
• Three illegal Somali immigrants landed on Socotra on February 7, 2010. It was the first recorded case of refugees coming to the island
• Socotra enjoys sufficient supplies of petrol brought by a tanker to the port in Hadibo. In the public network, electricity is available from 9 am to early morning hours these days
• Www.socotraproject.org has been awarded the GOLD PRIZE in the Yemen Web Awards 2009. SGBP website got the first place within the second largest category of Projects & Government Websites
• Kay Van Damme from Ghent University presented his lecture on Socotra’s endemics in Hadibo. He originally gave the paper in the conference on biodiversity in the Arabian Peninsula, Sharjah, UAE in February
• A date palms pollination period for July harvest has started in Socotra. These days, you can meet men carrying a woven harness to climb palms for artificial pollination. See the harness in Plants section of The Gallery
• A two-day workshop on Socotra civil society is organized by SGBP on March 21 – 22 in Hadibo. More than 60 members of local NGOs and representatives of Hadibo and Qalansiya local councils are invited
• SGBP has been extended with a fifth component focused on marine conservation. The component activities are funded by French environmental fund FFEM with assigned budget of 1,000,000 Euro
• Two Iranian boats illegally fishing in the vicinity of Socotra were caught by the Yemeni army in March. Crews were flown to Al-Mukalla for investigation, the boats left Hadibo port at the end of the month
• A joint annual work plan of UNDP and Italian project was presented by the projects’ managers and H.E. Minister of Water and Environment to representatives of Socotra local councils and other authorities
• This year’s sea cucumber harvest has reached its peak on Socotra. Even though sea cucumbers are not traditionally consumed by Socotris, they have been popular with local fishermen who export them for attractive prices
• The Regional Team Leader and Regional Technical Advisor Mirey Atallah from UNDP Bratislava responsible for GEF funds for SGBP project came for the first monitoring mission
• Third SGBP board meeting was held on May 12, 2010 in Sana’a. The board members approved the first quarter 2010 progress report and discussed the annual work plan of the new marine component funded by FFEM
• SGBP celebrated the World Environment Day on Socotra on June 5, 2010. The public celebration was focused on environmental awareness such as recycling and biodiversity of Socotra