This site provides general information about the people and environment of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Soqotra. Friends of Soqotra have been in close contact with many different institutions and individuals concerned with the Archipelago over the years, and this has made possible the exchange and continual updating of information. Our thanks to all those who have contributed in the past and to all future contributors!
A broad overview of life on the archipelago and its natural history is provided here, as well as links to the Biodiversity networks. If you have information of interest for our website don't hesitate to contact us.

The Soqotra Archipelago consists of four islands and several sea stacks. Three of the islands, Soqotra (3,650 sq. km in area), ‘Abd-al Kuri (133 sq. km) and Samha (41 sq. km) are inhabited. The fourth and smallest island, Darsa, lies about 17 km east of Samha, and is uninhabited, though overrun with rats, as well as being home to great numbers of small crabs and clouds of seabirds.
Soqotra has a population of some 60,000 – 80,000 people. Currently the bulk of the population live on the north coast: in and around the archipelago capital, Hadiboh, and around the regional capital of Qalansiyah. The rural people of Soqotra are largely divided into tribal groupings, each tribe being made up of a number of clans. The people of the major coastal settlements are more diverse: a mixture of traders and merchants of mainland origin; descendants of a former slave population, largely of African origin, and of shipwrecked and deserting seamen; immigrants from the African seaboard, and fishermen of a variety of origins. This cosmopolitan mix is most noticeable in the larger towns of Hadiboh (and its many satellite villages), Qalansiyah and Qadheb.
Soqotrans speak their own Semitic language, Soqotri, which has a variety of local dialects. It is one of the group of six, pre-literate languages commonly called the ‘Modern South Arabian’ (MSA) languages, spoken only in southern Arabia. The islands continue to have an extremely rich poetic tradition: their poetry and song represent a unique storehouse of Soqotran language and culture, and are a striking record of traditional (and rapidly disappearing) island expertise. However, the language as yet has no written form, and with the spread of Arabic across the islands as the language of education, radio, newspapers and television, and with the rapid economic and socio-political change which the islands are undergoing, their original language is likely to disappear over time (as has happened to related languages in Yemen and Oman).

Traditionally the islanders lived by fishing, date-palm cultivation and animal husbandry, rearing goats, sheep and cattle for meat and milk, and donkeys and camels as pack animals. They traded butter-oil, salted and dried fish, various plant products and sheepswool cloth for the necessities they were unable to produce themselves. In recent decades they also relied on seasonal out-migration as labourers to the Arabian mainland as a source of income. Now they increasingly find employment in various government ministries (as policemen, soldiers, teachers, office and health workers etc.). Complex traditional rules which governed the management of livestock, access to pasture, water and dry season fodders, and which also controlled exploitation of the flora and fauna, were instrumental in maintaining the rich biodiversity of the islands. That the Soqotra Archipelago has been declared one of the world’s most important island groups, with a flora and fauna of global significance, demonstrates the success of the islander’s management of their natural resources.
Prior to 1967 the archipelago was ruled by a Sultan with his administration, soldiers, clients, slaves and law court officials. The position of Sultan was a hereditary one, the Sultans being drawn from within the family of ‘Afrer sultans from the Mahra people of the mainland opposite, who in the 17th Century extended their rule to Soqotra. They ruled the island more or less uninterrupted from that time until 1967 (though in 1876 Soqotra became a British Protectorate along with the rest of the Mahra State of Qishn and Soqotra). In 1967 the Archipelago became absorbed into South Yemen, the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY), and when north and south Yemen were united in 1990, the islands became part of the Republic of Yemen, as they still are today.
Further information on the culture are provided in the "Tayf" Newsletter and in various other publications listed in the Bibliography. The poem above you find in Tayf 9 (2012), page 6.

The Soqotra Archipelago is inscribed as a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site since 2008 based on one criterion only (x), its outstanding biological diversity. The inclusion in the World Heritage List is a global recognition of the unique and rich biodiversity of Soqotra and the importance of its conservation, aiding to protect the current life that is a result of up to several millions of years of evolution and local radiations, combined with a diversity in habitats, ranging from coastal dunes to majestuous granite mountains, and human-mediated landscapes.
Criterion x: “the nominated property shall contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation” Soqotra’s high diversity and endemism in plants, reptiles, birds and terrestrial molluscs, as well as its important ecosystems including the globally unique Dracaena woodland, have served as the main arguments for the inscription of Soqotra as a UNESCO WHS. At the time of the inscription, now nearly a decade ago, the statement of the outstanding value reads: “Socotra is globally important for biodiversity conservation because of its exceptionally rich and distinct flora and fauna. 37% of Socotra’s plant species, 90% of its reptile species and 95% of its land snail species do not occur anywhere else in the world. Socotra is of particular importance to the Horn of Africa’s biodiversity hotspot and, as one of the most biodiversity rich and distinct islands in the world, has been termed the Galápagos of the Indian Ocean”. The analogy with the Galápagos only goes a certain way, Soqotra is quite different, and as an archipelago, much older. The criterion x has been argumented to be valid for Soqotra as follows “Socotra is globally important for biodiversity conservation because of its exceptional level of biodiversity and endemism in many terrestrial and marine groups of organisms. Socotra is particularly important for its diversity of plants and has 825 plant species of which 307 (37%) are endemic. Socotra has high importance for bird species as underlined by the identification by Birdlife International of 22 Important Bird Areas on Socotra. Socotra also supports globally significant populations of other land and sea birds, including a number of threatened species. Extremely high levels of endemism occur in Socotra’s reptiles (34 species, 90% endemism) and land snails (96 species, 95% endemism). The marine life of Socotra is also very diverse, with 253 species of reef-building corals, 730 species of coastal fish and 300 species of crab, lobster and shrimp, and well represented in the property’s marine areas.”
Since the time of inscription, additional research on Soqotra’s biodiversity has revealed an even higher diversity among all groups, from the terrestrial molluscs to the reptiles, birds and plants, in absolute species numbers as well as in cryptic diversity. In addition, more information on invertebrate groups emerged such as spiders, beetles, butterflies and grasshoppers, revealing new insights in the Archipelago’s biodiversity. Every year, new species are described from Soqotra still, illustrating the richness and uniqueness of its biota. A more recent overview of endemism and diversity across all groups would be multidisciplinary academic exercise, and we refer to specialised literature. The research does not stop, and biologists across the globe are still working on grasping the richness of Soqotra’s biodiversity, as well as the best possible conservation of the habitats in a balance with the needs of local communities and the various impacts on the environment.
The UNESCO nominated property of the Soqotra Archipelago includes the four islands and two rocky islets, in total 73% of the total land area of the Archipelago and 50% of its coastal areas. Besides the core areas, terrestrial and marine buffer zones have been established. The delineated areas correspond to, and are based on, those defined in the Socotra Zoning Plan of 2000. For example, the terrestrial core area in the UNESCO WH property corresponds to the terrestrial National Park area and the terrestrial Nature Sanctuaries as defined in the Zoning Plan. The integrity of the Soqotra WHS is evaluated every few years by a specialised committee after a field mission to the Archipelago, resulting in recommendations to the Yemeni Government and the Soqotran Governorate and an evaluation of how local conservation efforts meet the challenges to biodiversity.

The challenges to the biodiversity of the Soqotra Archipelago and hence to the integrity of the UNESCO World Heritage property are varied and depend on natural as well as human-mediated factors. Soqotra may well lose it’s inscription on the World Heritage List or be a WHS in danger, which would have an impact on conservation efforts. General natural challenges include climate change/effects, such as the El Niño effect resulting in devastating local impacts of the cyclones Chapala and Megh in November 2015. Other challenges that are responsible for loss of biodiversity on other islands include (a) habitat degradation/land degradation, closely linked to land use as well as to climate, (b) exotic and invasive species, introduced by man, (c) unsustainable development and direct habitat destruction, and (d) the waning of sustainable resource use through traditional practices. On a small Archipelago like Soqotra, the many challenges to man and environment are closely related, and impacts on nature affect the inhabitants whom depend on the ecosystems for survival, and vice versa, the impacts on local people affect the environment.
Worldwide recognition of Soqotra’s biodiversity since its inclusion in the World Heritage List allows to aid the local capacity in conservation and for Soqotra to be well known for its biodiversity in the World. On the other hand, it puts a pressure on the local conservation and the local people in their daily confrontation with the many challenges that life faces on every island in the world.