Paper short abstract:

This paper will describe the relationship between natural and cultural heritage on Soqotra and attempt to demonstrate that separating them in formal or informal conservation management systems is doomed to failure.

Paper long abstract:

The island of Soqotra has long been known for its natural heritage, a heritage that has long been divorced from the very custodians that have been instrumental in its conservation and management. With this paper we emphasise the necessity for a clearer engagement between the natural and cultural heritage on Soqotra to ensure that the long-term conservation measures that have been imposed on the inhabitants takes into account the decades long conservation practices that had and continue to have an impact on this unique Natural WHS environment that conservation measures seek to protect and conserve. Utilising archaeological, historic and ethnographic information we demonstrate how the so-called pristine and untouched environment of Soqotra is actually a palimpsest landscape that has been shaped and re-shaped by humans over the last millennium, and how it is only by acknowledgement of this that we will be able to move forward in understanding and better adapting current conservation measures.