Al Hima Revives Traditional Methods of Conservation and Poverty Reduction

8 April 2007

In a rare occurrence, conservation may move from the bottom and local levels up to the global policy level. Conservationists and indigenous people from West Asia and North Africa (WANA) agreed to work on deepening their knowledge of and reviving effective traditional sustainable development practices in a new mold that engulfs modern principles of social equity and justice.

This came during a workshop entitled “Conservation for Poverty Reduction; Traditional Approaches in West Asia: Hima Revival and Evolution through the 21st Century,” which was held end of March 2007 in Lebanon and gathered around fifty people working at the local and policy levels in conservation in the WANA region and in global international organizations such as IUCN and BirdLife International.

The meeting was considered a “breakthrough” and “historic” as it realized what was agreed upon by regional members in IUCN global and regional meetings and what some conservationists in this region have been trying to do for a long time.

Participants, who flocked from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, the United Kingdom and Switzerland and different parts of Lebanon, also agreed on a road map that includes deepening knowledge on those traditional practices and promoting them to the global policy level.

Participants exchanged several traditional experiences that were practiced in their countries but focused, as the title of the workshop indicates, on the Hima system as it was the most widely spread and applied customary system in the region.

“The Hima is the most widespread and longstanding indigenous / traditional protected area institution in the Middle East, and perhaps on Earth,” said Dr. Othman Llewllyn who was representing Saudi Arabia’s National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development (NCWCD).

The workshop was organized by IUCN, West/Central Asia and North Africa (WESCANA) Regional Office in collaboration with its members; BirdLife International, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (SPNL), Lebanese Ministry of Environment, Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) in Jordan as well as the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and Hanns Seidel Foundation.

IUCN’s contribution to this workshop is part of a project to launch the Conservation for Poverty Reduction leverage initiative in the WESCANA region.

The Hima system was born in the Arabian Peninsula and it predates Islam.  It was a tribal custom introduced by the nomads who came to the region for the protection of land that served their subsistence. The advent of Islam moved the Hima system from private to public ownership and secured access for the poor to resources necessary for their livelihoods.

“Prophet Mohammad, upon him be blessings and peace, laid down general guidelines that transformed the Hima to become one of the essential instruments of conservation in Islamic law,” Llewllyn said.
“He abolished the pre-Islamic practice of making private reserves for the exclusive use of powerful individuals,” he added.

In short, the fundamental principle of these guidelines, which became the legal system governing these protected areas, is that they contribute to public good and result in more benefits than detriments.

Unfortunately, with social and policy change, which include mechanization of agriculture and nationalization of land, the Hima system deteriorated and the number Himas in today’s Saudi Arabia dropped from 3000 to a few remaining dozens.

However, conservationists like Llewllyn, who arrived in Saudi Arabia more than 20 years ago, believe that the system has great potential for revival if enough information is gathered on it and appropriate work is done on the policy level to ensure that the Hima does not fall victim to tribal disputes and power struggles.

Also with the increasing disappointment and realization of some conservationists that in many cases national parks and reserves across the world have brought more hardship to local and poor populations than benefits, the Hima stands further as a tool worth reviving.

“The Hima has so many strengths and was such a progressive tool that it was one of the reasons that led me to convert to Islam soon after I arrived in Saudi Arabia,” Llewllyn told the other workshop participants at the closure.

Ever since discovering the Hima, Llewllyn has been promoting it and lobbying with the government of Saudi Arabia to obtain backing for its revival. Moreover, WESCANA members agreed in the World Parks Congress of Durban in 2003 to work on reviving indigenous practices of this region. But since then nothing happened, this is why Llewllyn considers that this workshop and its results are a breakthrough and the process will move easier from here especially that IUCN is able and committed to leading it.

The momentum of Hima revival has been building up ever since SPNL started the process in south Lebanon three years ago in important biodiversity hotspots. As an IUCN member, BirdLife partner and active conservation organization at the regional level, SPNL was successful in promoting the Hima and raising discussions on it during regional fora.

During the July war on Lebanon, IUCN task force members who came to the country to assess the impact of war on the environment and propose possible remedies, found that Himas proved to be a resilient conservation system. Task force members, therefore, recommended their proliferation in the region as it is may be just about entering an era of conflicts.

For more information, please contact Ms. Hala Kilani at hala.Kilani@iucn.org