CoAct Database

Important Plant Areas in Arabia

Identifying the most important sites for wild plant diversity

Over 100 provisional Important Plant Area (IPA) sites have been identified in Saudi Arabia, Oman & Yemen. CMEP is engaged with project partners in surveying and producing final assessments of these sites as IPAs.

IPA programs are a response to Target V of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. Target V states ‘Protection of 50 per cent of the most important areas for plant diversity assured.’ Data from IPA habitat and species surveys is intended to inform this conservation planning process. In Saudi Arabia, a number of IPA sites have been proposed as protected areas.

To date, IPA full site assessments have been published, on Jibal Qaraqir, the Farasan Islands, Uruq Bani Ma’arid and Jabal Aja’.

CMEP developed criteria for IPA selection in Arabia with the IUCN Arabian Plant Specialist Group. Criteria for the Arabian region specifically include relict species and refugia for connectivity and climate change mitigation. They also target traditional protected areas (himas in Saudi Arabia, hamiyah in Oman) for inclusion in the network.

Activity period	2006–0
Last CoAct update	2025
Web URL	http://www.cmep.org.uk/projects/important-plant-areas-in-arabia/
Output effectiveness	n/a
Accountability Index	0.00
Inclusiveness Index	0.21
Num. actors	4
Functions	Knowledge production, Knowledge dissemination, Technical implementation, Institutional capacity building, Standards and norms, Participatory management
SDGs
Themes	land use
Policy focus	Equal focus
Sectors	Agriculture, forestry and fishing, Other service activities
Implementation countries	Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, State of, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syrian Arab Republic (the), United Arab Emirates (the), Yemen

Target	Target type
Assess hotspots of plant diversity in the Arabian Peninsula and designate the most important as Important Plant Areas (IPAs)	People/countries affected target
Arabian Peninsula countries of Saudia Arabia, Oman, and Yemen	People/countries affected target
Extend implementation into Bahrain, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Qatar	People/countries affected target
Contribute to achieving Target V of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC)	Area target
Protection of 50 per cent of the most important areas for plant diversity assured	Area target
100 provisional Important Plant Area (IPA) sites identified in Saudi Arabia, Oman and Yemen	Area target
Development of Arabian Peninsula IPA Programme Criteria	Other target