Traditional land use and reconsideration of environmental zoning in the Hawf Protected Area, south-eastern Yemen Eva Schlecht a , Luis G.H. Zaballos a , Diana Quiroz b , Paul Scholte c , Andreas Buerkert b, * a Animal Husbandry in the Tropics and Subtropics, University of Kassel and Georg-August-Universit€ at G€ ottingen, Steinstrasse 19, 37213 Witzenhausen, Germany b Organic Plant Production and Agroecosystems Research in the Tropics and Subtropics, University of Kassel, Steinstrasse 19, D-37213 Witzenhausen, Germany c UNDP, Yemen, c/o Nieuwe Teertuinen 12 C,1013 LV Amsterdam, The Netherlands article info Article history: Received 8 February 2014 Received in revised form 30 April 2014 Accepted 23 May 2014 Available online Keywords: Anogeissus dhofarica Deforestation Grazing management Cloud forest Shifting cultivation Subsistence agriculture abstract The Al Hawf area at the YemeneOman border hosts a unique fog-derived ecosystem which, due to its high diversity of plant and animal species, merits protection. Given the area's remoteness, poor infra- structure, high population growth and limited exchanges across the Omani border, the local livelihoods strongly rely on the exploitation of natural marine and terrestrial resources. Since quantitative data on the intensity of anthropogenic pressure on the terrestrial ecosystem are lacking, the present study analysed the impact of agricultural and pastoral land use on the vegetation of the designated Hawf Protected Area (HPA). To this end structured interviews, village walks and other rural appraisal tools were combined with vegetation surveys and GPS-based monitoring of pasturing livestock herds. The loss of traditional herding systems that regulated selective management of fragile grazing grounds along the altitude gradient in the HPA, particularly for camels, the overexploitation of woody perennials for con- struction purposes, and the resettlement of former migrant workers are major constraints for the suc- cessful implementation of the government-designed management plan. Implementation could be improved by better taking into account the vegetation composition in the area, current and traditional grazing schemes and local people's needs for off-farm income. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Situated at crossroads between the Afrotropical, Oriental and Palearctic regions, Yemen has been identified as hosting globally important biodiversity (Mittermeier et al., 2004; Olson and Dinerstein, 1998). To address increasing pressure, the Govern- ment of Yemen has, since 1999, gazetted five protected areas: the Socotra Archipelago (‘island of the dragon blood trees’), the cultural landscape of Outmah, the Aden Wetlands and the ‘forgotten forests of Arabia’ (Bura'a and Hawf), (Hall et al., 2008). In Socotra, Aden Wetlands and Jabal Bura, conservation man- agement with a strong involvement of local communities has been underway for several years (Hall et al., 2008; Scholte et al., 2011). These initiatives have been supported by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and bilateral cooperation (Hall et al., 2008). For the Hawf Mountains Forest, however, protection efforts are lagging behind and little is known about the agro-ecological and social settings of this remote area in the south of the Arabian Peninsula that is bordering the Sultanate of Oman. In an attempt to follow the pattern of the traditional Mahjur (grazing reserve management) system, the ‘Sustainable Community-Based Protected Area Man- agement Plan’ of 2005 proposed to divide the Hawf Protected Area (HPA) into three zones (MWP/EPA, 2005). In a high altitude ‘Core Zone’ (800e1400 m asl) all human activities are meant to be strictly prohibited, while limited use of forest resources is allowed in most of the mid-altitude parts of the forest classified as ‘Buffer Zone’ (>400e800 m asl; Fig. 1). The low-lying ‘Peripheral Zone’ (0e400 m asl) is meant to remain open for settlement and other activities of the local community (MWP/EPA, 2005). While the proposed Peripheral Zone mostly comprises degraded and cleared land, the Buffer Zone is predominantly populated by large trees such as Anogeissus dhofarica A.J. Scott, Acacia sp., Commiphora sp., and a mixed vegetation of shrubs and grasses. The Core Zone is characterised by open shrub land and populations of Acacia sp., * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: tropcrops@uni-kassel.de, buerkert@uni-kassel.de (A. Buerkert). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Arid Environments journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jaridenv http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2014.05.016 0140-1963/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Journal of Arid Environments 109 (2014) 92e102