Ashaninka Indigenous musicians from Brazil and Peru perform during the annual celebration recognizing the Ashaninka territory in the Apiwtxa village, Acre state, Brazil, Monday, June 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
Ghost crab nests line the beach on the Yemeni island of Socotra on Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)But such conservation efforts are complicated by Yemen’s stalemated civil war. As the Saudi Arabia-backed, internationally recognized government battles
— a Shiite group backed by Iran — the conflict has spilled beyond the country’s borders. Houthi attacks on Israel and commercial shipping in the Red Sea have drawn retaliation from, further destabilizing the region.“The Yemeni government has 99 problems right now,” said Abdulrahman Al-Eryani, an advisor with Gulf State Analytics, a Washington-based risk consulting firm. “Policymakers are focused on stabilizing the country and ensuring essential services like electricity and water remain functional. Addressing climate issues would be a luxury.”
Ecotourism guide Sami Mubarak poses for a portrait beneath an ailing dragon’s blood tree on the Yemeni island of Socotra, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)Ecotourism guide Sami Mubarak poses for a portrait beneath an ailing dragon’s blood tree on the Yemeni island of Socotra, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
With little national support, conservation efforts are left largely up to Socotrans. But local resources are scarce, said Sami Mubarak, an ecotourism guide on the island.
Mubarak gestures toward the Keybani family nursery’s slanting fence posts, strung together with flimsy wire. The enclosures only last a few years before the wind and rain break them down. Funding for sturdier nurseries with cement fence posts would go a long way, he said.“If you don’t take care of them they become a problem and now it’s a shame to see dogs everywhere. We have a big problem right now I don’t know what we’re going to do,” she said.
A giant tortoise estimated to be over 100 years old feeds in the highlands on a reserve called Rancho Primicias on Saturday, June 15, 2024, on Santa Cruz, Ecuador in the Galapagos. (AP Photo/Alie Skowronski)A giant tortoise estimated to be over 100 years old feeds in the highlands on a reserve called Rancho Primicias on Saturday, June 15, 2024, on Santa Cruz, Ecuador in the Galapagos. (AP Photo/Alie Skowronski)
A feral dog wanders the streets of Santa Rosa, Ecuador in the Galapagos, outside the highland grounds where giant tortoises feed on Saturday, June 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Alie Skowronski)A feral dog wanders the streets of Santa Rosa, Ecuador in the Galapagos, outside the highland grounds where giant tortoises feed on Saturday, June 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Alie Skowronski)