An imperilled Arabian paradise

摘要

An arabian Eden, the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean, the last refuge of the almost-extinct: there are epithets in abundance, from scientists and conservationists, for Socotra, a remote Yemeni island off the Horn of Africa. The island, about the size of Ibiza, is home to so many rare species of plants, birds and fish that the un would like to designate it a "man and biosphere reserve". At the same time, a race is on to safeguard it against the sort of development that has destroyed almost every comparable island in the world.