Bahrain

Hawar Islands Reserve

WHS Score 0.0 Votes 1
The Hawar Islands Reserve is an archipelago of 6 larger and 30 smaller desert islands in the Gulf of Bahrain. The islands are home to many bird species, notably Socotra cormorants. The seas around support a large population of dugong due to extensive seagrass meadows,.
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Site Info

Official Information
Full Name
Hawar Islands Reserve (ID: 1579)
Country
Bahrain
Status
On tentative list 2001 Site history
History of Hawar Islands Reserve
Criteria
Links
UNESCO
whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
Related Resources
News Article
  • Feb. 25, 2009 gulf-daily-news.com — A marine ecosystem, home to dugongs, that stretches across Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and maybe even the UAE could be nominated as a World Heritage Site.

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News
gulf-daily-news.com 02/25/2009
A marine ecosystem, home to dugong…
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Community Reviews

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First published: 18/02/09.

Solivagant

Hawar Islands Reserve

Hawar Islands Reserve (On tentative list)

We visited most of Bahrain’s T List sites in 2005 and, with Bahrain hosting the 2011 WHC, are interested to guess which (if any) might be inscribed as that country’s “reward”! Could it be the “Hawar Islands Reserve” site? Well this was the only Bahraini T List site we didn’t visit so I can’t comment first hand but it is perhaps still worth considering their chances for 2011! For a long time these islands were under a “bit of a cloud” which prevented nomination since they were the subject of an ownership dispute between Bahrain and Qatar. However this was resolved (In favour of Bahrain insofar as the Hawar Islands were concerned) by the International court of Juctice in 2001. Bahrain then embarked on a clear strategy to obtain inscription - even producing a "Hawar Islands Master Plan". This envisaged the proposal going forward in 2002. But, there must have been delays, as this very well produced "Management Plan" was still in draft in Jan 2003. The case seems very strong and everyone seems to agree that this type of site is under-represented. But, at Suzhou in 2004 :- disappointment!! There were some integrity issues but, more significantly, UNESCO wanted a Transboundary Proposal covering the Gulf of Salwah and thus involving Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Now that must surely be the equivalent of a kiss of death bearing in mind the Qatari/Bahrain history and the difficulties Saudi Arabia was having in getting its own potential sites …

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