RIYADH, 8 January — The National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development (NCWCD) will organize an international conference on eco-tourism in Riyadh toward the end of this year.
Dr. Abdulaziz Abu Zinada, secretary-general of NCWCD, told Arab News today that the conference, the first of its kind, would be held in cooperation with the Higher Commission for Tourism. He said the objective was to benefit from the experience of other countries in promoting eco-tourism in the Kingdom.
The NCWCD will be participating in a conference on domestic tourism to be held at the King Faisal Hall in Riyadh on Jan. 30. The conference, being convened by the Higher Commission for Tourism, will bring together representatives from NCWCD and private sector organizations for pooling ideas on developing domestic tourism.
Dr. Abu Zinada also reminded the people that the use of firearms is banned and they should rely only on falcons and hunting dogs during the hunting season which concludes by the end of February.
Further, they should not destroy vegetation nor cause environmental pollution during their hunting trips. He also urged them not to deviate from the traditional tracks, as driving on new routes could destroy truffles, light brown underground fungus that fetches a price anywhere from SR30 to SR50 per kg. in the market.
Going off the beaten track in the desert is becoming a new trend among the Saudis with the availability of GPS (Global Positioning System) instruments on the market. According to Muneef Ali, marketing manager of a firm dealing in these instruments, some 100 units were sold on a daily basis during the pre-Eid rush. All the customers were Saudis who bought them for use in their desert safaris for hunting or collecting truffles.
The system, which relies on satellite communications, enables them to plot their own route in the desert and return by the same track using satellite navigation. In the process, their vehicles destroy truffles growing underground.
Asked about NCWCD's plans for promoting eco- tourism, the secretary general said they had some ideas that would be discussed with the Higher Commission for Tourism, which has Prince Sultan ibn Salman as its secretary general. However, one of NCWCD's priorities in this regard would be the sustainable growth of tourism that does not disturb the ecological balance.
An international conference on the economics and conservation of renewable natural resources in arid zones held in November last year had disclosed that 66 percent of agro-systems alone have been degraded as a result of global warming, desertification, water scarcity, population pressure and overgrazing.
As part of its conservation program, NCWCD has embarked on a joint research project with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for conducting a biodiversity survey of juniper woodlands in the Asir mountains.
However, a concrete example of the sustainable growth of natural resources was underlined by the experimental use of agricultural refuse in making chipboards out of 'Hobaybi wood.' The results showed that there was a potential for utilizing ligno-cellulose material on an economic basis, the participants in the seminar said.
