Sanaa warns of catastrophic destruction targeting Hadramout Nature Reserves

On Jul 25, 2024 10:48 PM

SANAA, July 25 (YPA) – Sanaa-based Ministry of Tourism and the Tourism Promotion Council condemned on Thursday the coalition forces’ attempt to establish a military camp in the Sharma-Jathmoun Nature Reserve in Hadramout province.

The ministry warned in a statement of the catastrophic destruction of the most important global reserve for rare turtles in the Reserve, one of the most important Yemeni nature reserves for rare and endangered turtles in the world.

The statement stressed the importance of the reserve that represents an important habitat for green and hawksbill turtles, which are among the most important rare and endangered living creatures on the planet Earth, taking the reserve’s beaches as a suitable location for nesting and laying eggs.

It affirmed that the moves being supported by the UAE forces to enforce their control over this vital site are denounced, as part of their efforts to militarize Yemeni tourist sites and natural reserves, in flagrant violation of Yemeni national sovereignty, and international laws and norms calling for the protection of natural sites and reserves in the world, and the preservation of their biological and environmental diversity, and its components.

The ministry’s statement held the UAE forces and its allied parties the full responsible for the militarization of the nature reserve, which heralds a dangerous escalation targeting the security situation and the lives of citizens, and the reserve may be exposed to risks that threaten its natural heritage, its vital ecosystem, and the rare and endangered organisms.

The statement called on international organizations to move quickly to save the reserve, which has been declared since 2001 as a natural reserve and home to endangered turtles, and to stop all crimes and destructive activities that threaten marine life, as the most important natural marine environments, and to work to stop violations and acts of sabotage and to demand stopping the establishment of the camp in the reserve and all Yemeni reserves, islands and ports.

It also warned of the consequences of the coalition forces depleting the natural resources in the reserve, and other reserves and islands, especially rare living creatures such as sea turtles, vegetation and resources, calling for an end to all forms of tampering that have been affecting them for years, as they are an economic and natural gain for Yemen in general and the province in particular and the world.

The Sharma Reserve is located in the center of the Hadramout province, about 135 km east of the center of the province’s capital Mukalla city, considering one of the most important sites in Yemen for turtle nesting, as it occupies an area of 30 thousand hectares of beaches and coastal land.