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[Yemen Update 30/31(1992):29,37]
The lush green vegetation spilled out of thedeep gorge below us, completely covering the lower slopes of thewadi, slowly giving way to tones of brown, grey and black, andvanishing completely as the slopes gave way to steep granite cliffs. Listening carefully, one could discern the chattering of baboons andbird calls. Sadly, Martin waved his hand in the other directionwhere the forest likewise diminished, but due to the deliberateencroachments of man rather than the irrevocable dictates oftopography. Here, to the east, women were gathering wood and cowsgrazed on mini-terraces, far beneath the inhospitable mountains atthe end of the wadi. But as one's eyes became accustomed to thesight, one could distinguish herds of goats led by young herdsmen,even in the thickest parts of the wood.
The slowly diminishing 300 ha of forest onJabal Bura' in the Wadi Rijaf is the last trace of the tropicalforests which once covered the slopes of the mountains stretchingdown to the Tihama, before they surrendered to the geometricterracing which impresses every visitor today.
Ursula Dreibholz and I were enjoyingourselves immensely, as we leapt across mountain streams and sleptbeneath the stars in villages where there was no electricity, but ourpleasure was slightly reduced by the consciousness that we might beamong the last to enjoy the sights. Martin Herzog, a Swiss forestryexpert with the FAO in Sanaa, has developed a fatalistic attitude tothe elimination of this forest which has been one of his centralconcerns since arriving in Yemen several years ago, an attitudeinfluenced by some of the local population's lack of appreciation. Unfortunately a growing number regard the forest as a resource whichcan be exploited until Yemen's oil wealth eliminates their dependenceon firewood for fuel and livestock as a store of wealth.
Martin showed us around and introduced us tofriend and foe of the forest alike. There are no clear and easy waysof preventing damage to the forest: as the government can do verylittle for the local population, the value of the government writ islimited. The local Mudir al-Nahiya does put people in jailfor cutting down trees, but he can hardly forbid them from takingtheir herds into good grazing land, or prevent them from collectingfire wood, or even from building terraces. As the population isexpanding at the same time that financial means are contracting (dueto the forced exodus from Saudi Arabia), the people are obliged tocatch as catch can, and the forest is a good catchment.
The only way to preserve the forest is bypersuading the local population that it is their own interest topreserve it. The concept of resource conservation is a difficultmatter even in the West, where people are rarely confronted withenvironmental choices in their own daily life, and thus can afford tobe slightly more generous in their support of environmental causes;even there it is not a prevalent attitude. Persuading people to makeshort term daily sacrifices to protect a forest which is virtuallythe only resource available is understandably difficult in the bestof circumstances. Here, the women are already obliged to go downseveral hundred meters to gather wood, and then carry their loadsback up the mountainside. The shepherds guide their herds over evengreater distances. Introducing bottled gas would increase thefinancial strain, and reducing the herds would reduce theircapital.
Jabal Bura' will probably not be there muchlonger unless the forest can be protected by a method which assuresthat the population has its own needs taken care of, with alternativefuels, and alternative grazing land. As the population of the Tihamais expanding up into the western reaches of the forest and urbansprawl from the highlands threatening it from the East, it is truly arace with time.
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