CBD First National Report - Saudi Arabia (English version)

Name Area Km 2 Date declared____________________________________________________________Harrat al Harrah 13,775 1987Al Khunfah 20,450 1987At Tubayq 12,200 1989Mahazat as Sayd 2,141 1988Ibex Reserve 2,369 1988Uruq Bani Ma’arid 5,500 1994Majami al Habd 3,400 1993Raydah Escarpment 9 1989Al Jubail Marine Wildlife 4,262 1995Umm al Qamari Island 1,600 1987Farasan Islands 600 1989Saja/Um ar Rimth 5,500 1995Nafud al Urayq 1,900 1995At Taysiyah 2,855 1995Al Jandaliyah 1,160 1995Areas managed by the Ministry of AgricultureAsir National ParkRangeland fenced areas:There are 37 such areas distributed widely throughout the Kingdom.Forest fenced areas:A total of 23 such areas are maintained in Asir, Al Baha, Ar Riyadh, Bisha and At Taif.The old Himas:Shaib HuraymilaHima Al Gatha at UnaizaHima SaysadHima Bani SaarArabian oryx now roam the Empty Quarter in large numbers, Sand and MountainGazelles and Houbara bustards have been re-established and mangrove forests restored,which represent concrete and successful efforts of environmental restoration in theKingdom.Endemic plant species occur in two of the protected areas. Raydah, one of thesmallest areas, covering only 9 km 2 of the south-western mountains with 22 endemicstops the list, followed by the Farasan Islands with 17 species. This means that 39 species(15.9%) of endemic plants are within areas that receive formal protection and that aremanaged primarily for the conservation of biodiversity.Species richness data are available for 13 of the NCWCD protected areas andmonitoring of species composition and abundance has been carried on in the protectedarea at the King Khalid Wildlife Research Centre near Riyadh since 1990. Five of theprotected areas each have more than 10% of the species recorded from Saudi Arabiawithin their borders. In total, the protected areas already established contain about 43%of the recorded plants of Saudi Arabia.34