JEDDAH: The Saudi Wildlife Authority (SWA) has offered visitors to the 12th Souq Okaz festival the opportunity to be introduced to the Kingdom’s diverse wildlife and the resettlement of endangered species in reserves.
SWA has turned an area of the festival’s grounds into a mini-reserve for the Arabian oryx, which can survive the driest climates and most arid regions in the Arabian peninsula, explaining how it can be saved from extinction using the captive-reproduction method before resettling the species in its natural habitat.
The Arabian oryx featured at Souq Okaz can adapt well to hot climates found in deserts, semi-deserts, dry-grass plains and meadows, and areas of rocky slopes.
The white, wide-eyed animal is considered a bovid and a desert antelope.
In the mini-reserve, there is also an ostrich. The number of ostriches has grown inside reserves, owing to the improved environmental and climatic conditions as well as the management of wild ostrich groups.
Through photos and documentary films, SWA has also introduced the festival’s visitors to other animal species it seeks to save, including the houbara bustard, which lives in open arid areas. Overhunting causes the species’ declining number and the worsening of its natural habitat is due to overgrazing and agricultural development.
The Arabian leopard, the most common wildcat species still spread in mountainous areas, was also featured alongside several endangered Accipitriformes.
SWA has provided its corner’s visitors with information on the first studies conducted in several reserves through monitoring vegetation, which has grown steadily, encouraging SWA to move forward with its resettlement program, in addition to providing information on protecting animals inside reserves by surrounding them with fences to monitor their adaptation before releasing them into the wild.
SWA’s participation in this year’s Souq Okaz festival is in line with the recently issued royal order to establish a council of royal reserves as part of King Salman’s keenness to preserve the natural environment, vegetation, and wildlife, to promote ecotourism, limit hunting and overgrazing, to prevent forest erosion, and to ensure the enjoyment of natural reserves based on the regulations governing them.
Souq Okaz visitors are introduced to Saudi wildlife
Souq Okaz visitors are introduced to Saudi wildlife
- The number of ostriches has grown inside reserves, owing to the improved environmental and climatic conditions as well as the management of wild ostrich groups
- The Arabian leopard, the most common wildcat species still spread in mountainous areas, was also featured alongside several endangered Accipitriformes
Saudi Cabinet reviews cooperation and agreements with other nations
- Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman chairs meeting and briefs ministers on his recent meeting with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi
- Cooperative efforts includes projects focusing on development and education, political consultations, environmental protection, health, investment and air transport
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Council of Ministers reviewed a number of domestic and international matters during a session in Jeddah on Tuesday chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The crown prince briefed the Cabinet on his recent meeting with the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, which included discussions about regional security and stability, the latest developments in the Middle East, and other topics of importance to the Arab and Islamic world, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
He also shared with ministers the contents of a letter he received from the president of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
The council discussed progress in cooperative efforts involving Saudi Arabia and other countries including Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Estonia, Cuba and Kiribati, and approved a number of memorandums of understanding.
The cooperation includes projects focusing on development and education, political consultations, environmental protection, health, investment and air-transport services, the press agency said. Ministers also approved an agreement between the Saudi General Authority for Awqaf and its Omani counterpart relating to endowments.
They reviewed national initiatives, including one for the promotion of charitable work, and the enhancement of humanitarian and developmental efforts across the country.
A merger of the National Competitiveness Center with the Saudi Center for Economic Business to create a combined Saudi Competitiveness and Business Center was authorized.
