On the windswept plateau above the Arabian Sea, Sena Kiebani embraces the seedlings that barely reach their ankles. Young plants protected by fences that are interposed between trees and wires are a type of dragon blood tree. This is a species found only on Socotra Island in Yemen and is currently struggling to survive the intense threat from climate change.
“When you see a tree die, it’s like losing one of your babies,” said Kiebani, who runs a nursery whose family is dedicated to preserving seeds.
It was known for its mushroom-shaped canopy and bloody red sap coursed around the trees, but there were once many trees. But increasingly severe cyclones, invasive goat grazing, and enduring disruption in Yemen (one of the poorest countries in the world and suffered by a decade-long civil war) have pushed the species and the unique ecosystems they support towards collapse.
In many cases, compared to the Galapagos Islands, Socotra is spectacularly isolated from around 240 kilometers (150 miles) from the Horn of Africa. Its biological wealth, including 825 plant species. Among them are swollen trunk trees from sculptural rocks, and frankincense that twists their limbs into the sky.
Socotra map:
However, it is the dragon’s blood tree that has captured the imagination for a long time, and its otherworldly form appears to belong more to Dr. Seuss’s page than any earthly forest. The island hosts around 5,000 tourists each year, many of which are depicted in surreal views of the Dragon’s Bloody Forest.
Visitors should hire a local guide to stay at a campsite run by Sokotlan families so that tourists can be distributed locally. If the trees disappear, the industries that support many islanders could disappear along with them.
“The income we receive from tourism makes us live better than the people on the mainland,” said Mubarak Coi, Sokotra’s tourism director.
But trees are more than plant curiosity. It is the pillar of the Socotra ecosystem. An umbrella-like canopy captures mist and rain, leading it to the soil below, allowing nearby plants to thrive in arid climates.
“When you lose a tree, you lose everything: the soil, the water, the whole ecosystem,” says Kay van Damme, a Belgian conservation biologist who has been working on SoCotra since 1999.
Without intervention, scientists like Van Dam warn that these trees could disappear within centuries.
“As humans, we have managed to destroy a huge amount of nature on most of the islands of the world,” he said. “Socotra is where we can actually do something, but otherwise this is on top of us.”
Beyond the rugged expanse of Firmihin Plateau in Socotra, the largest remaining dragon blood forest unfolds against the backdrop of jug-equipped mountains. Thousands of wide canopies balance it over a thin trunk. Sokotrasterlings darts in a dense crown, while Egyptian vultures bank against ruthless gusts of wind. Below, the goat weaves rocky undergrowth.
A 2017 survey by Nature Climate Change found that the frequency of severe cyclones has increased dramatically in the Arabian Sea in recent decades, with Socotra’s Dragon Blood Tree paying the price.
In 2015, a devastating 1-2 cyclone punch (with its strength unprecedented) tore the island apart. Samples from centuries ago, over 500 years ago, have survived countless storms, but have been rooted by thousands. The destruction continued in 2018 with yet another cyclone.
As greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase, so will the strength of the storms increase, warning Murakami, a climate scientist in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and lead author of the study. “Climate models around the world robustly project the more favorable conditions of tropical cyclones.”
However, the storm is not the only threat. Unlike pine trees and oak trees that grow 60-90 cm (25-35 inches) a year, dragon bloody trees creep up just 2-3 cm (about 1 inch) a year. By the time they reach maturity, many have already succumbed to insidious danger: goats.
The invasive species of Socotra, the free-roaming goat, eats up saplings before they grow. Outside the difficult-to-reach cliff, the only place where young dragon bloody trees can survive is in a protected nursery.
“The majority of the forests we’ve studied are what we call over-the-top. There are no young trees, there are no seedlings,” said Alan Forest, a biodiversity scientist at the Royal Botanical Gardens’ Middle Eastern Plant Centre for Edinburgh. “So you’re not having a lot of regeneration happening because old trees are almost dying.”
The Kiebani family nursery is one of several important enclosures that eliminate goats and allow seedlings to grow uninterrupted.
“In these nursery and enclosures, the vegetation breeding and age structure are much better,” Forest said. “Therefore, it’s resilient to climate change.”
However, such conservation efforts are complicated by Yemen’s deadlock civil war. The conflict has spilled across the country’s borders, with the rebels of Hoothi (Shia groups supported by Iran), a Saudi Arabia-backed internationally recognized government battle. Houthi’s attacks on Israel and commercial transport in the Red Sea have led to retaliation from Israeli and Western troops, further destabilizing the region.
“The Yemeni government currently has 99 issues,” said Abdul Rahman al-Eliani, an advisor to Gulf State Analysis, a Washington-based risk consulting firm. “Policymakers are focused on stabilizing the country and ensuring critical services like electricity and water. Addressing climate issues is a luxury.”
With little national support, conservation efforts are primarily left to Sokotran. However, local resources are rare, according to Sami Mubarak, the island’s ecotourism guide.
Mubarak gestures towards the diagonal fence post of the Kiebani Family Nursery, strung along with flimsy wires. The enclosures only last a few years before wind and rain broke them. Funding for a sturdy nursery with cement fence posts will go a long way, he said.
“We only have a few small environmental projects right now. That’s not enough,” he said. “We need local and central governments in Yemen to make protection a priority.”
