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Darb Zubaydah Brings Saudi Arabia, Iraq Together in UNESCO Heritage List

From the Darb Zubaydah pilgrimage trail (SPA)
From the Darb Zubaydah pilgrimage trail (SPA)
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Darb Zubaydah Brings Saudi Arabia, Iraq Together in UNESCO Heritage List

From the Darb Zubaydah pilgrimage trail (SPA)
From the Darb Zubaydah pilgrimage trail (SPA)

Darb Zubaydah (Zubaydah trail) was one of the most important historical routes in the Arabian Peninsula. It was taken by merchants in the past, and its importance greatly increased with the dawn of Islam, as it became one of the most prominent pilgrimage trails.

Today, the UNESCO is on the brink of adding the historical trail, once a meeting point for different civilizations, to its heritage list according to Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan, who confirmed that his ministry, in cooperation with the Iraqi government, is trying to have Dar Zubaydah added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The minister explained that the trail, which extends over 1,400 km, is among the oldest trade routes in the Arabian Peninsula and have once been among the most prominent pilgrimage trails, as it facilitated cultural and commercial exchanges, adding that the Heritage Authority will work on reviving the historical trail which runs from Kufa to Makkah.

Darb Zubaydah trail is named after Zubaydah bint Jafar, wife of the Abbasid Caliph Harun Al-Rashid, for her charitable works on the numerous stations along the trail, which facilitated the pilgrims’ journey along the trail.

The Kingdom has had five Saudi sites approved in the World Heritage List of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which includes 962 heritage and natural sites around the world in 157 countries.

Efforts to revive Darb Zubaydah are being made within the framework of strengthening bilateral relations between Riyadh and Baghdad, which have intensified recently through official meetings and visits, and the signing of a number of agreements sponsored by the Saudi-Iraqi Coordination Council for the implementation of an array of joint initiatives and actions between the two countries.

Madain Saleh is the first Saudi heritage site that was registered in 2008. It was followed by Ad Diriyah in 2010 and the historic Jeddah in 2014. Later the Rock Art in the Hail Region and Al-Ahsa Oasis were enlisted in 2015 and 2018, respectively.

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Saudi Arabia Hosts UN Talks on Drought, Desertification

Inigenous Yagua people are forced to travel long distances to fetch water after drought in the upper Amazon valley cut the river's flow by 90 percent, according to Colombian authorities. - AFP
Inigenous Yagua people are forced to travel long distances to fetch water after drought in the upper Amazon valley cut the river's flow by 90 percent, according to Colombian authorities. - AFP
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Saudi Arabia Hosts UN Talks on Drought, Desertification

Inigenous Yagua people are forced to travel long distances to fetch water after drought in the upper Amazon valley cut the river's flow by 90 percent, according to Colombian authorities. - AFP
Inigenous Yagua people are forced to travel long distances to fetch water after drought in the upper Amazon valley cut the river's flow by 90 percent, according to Colombian authorities. - AFP

Saudi Arabia will host the COP16 UN conference on land degradation and desertification next week.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called the meeting for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) a "moonshot moment" to protect and restore land and respond to drought.
"We are a desert country. We are exposed to the harshest mode of land degradation which is desertification," deputy environment minister Osama Faqeeha told AFP.

"Our land is arid. Our rainfall is very little. And this is the reality. And we have been dealing with this for centuries."

Land degradation disrupts ecosystems and makes land less productive for agriculture, leading to food shortages and spurring migration.

Land is considered degraded when its productivity has been harmed by human activities like pollution or deforestation. Desertification is an extreme form of degradation.

The last gathering of parties to the convention, in Ivory Coast in 2022, produced a commitment to "accelerating the restoration of one billion hectares of degraded land by 2030".

But the UNCCD, which brings together 196 countries and the European Union, now says 1.5 billion hectares (3.7 billion acres) must be restored by decade's end to combat crises including escalating droughts.

Saudi Arabia is aiming to restore 40 million hectares of degraded land, Faqeeha told AFP, without specifying a timeline. He said Riyadh anticipated restoring "several million hectares of land" by 2030.

So far 240,000 hectares have been recovered using measures including banning illegal logging and expanding the number of national parks from 19 in 2016 to more than 500, Faqeeha said.

Other ways to restore land include planting trees, crop rotation, managing grazing and restoring wetlands.

UNCCD executive secretary Ibrahim Thiaw told AFP he hoped COP16 would result in an agreement to accelerate land restoration and develop a "proactive" approach to droughts.

"We have already lost 40 percent of our land and our soils," Thiaw said.

"Global security is really at stake, and you see it all over the world. Not only in Africa, not only in the Middle East."

Faqeeha said he hoped the talks would bring more global awareness to the threat posed by degradation and desertification.

"If we continue to allow land to degrade, we will have huge losses," he said.

"Land degradation now is a major phenomenon that is really happening under the radar."

Saudi Arabia is hoping for strong, "constructive" civil society participation in COP16, Faqeeha said.

"We are welcoming all constructive engagement," he told AFP, while Thiaw said all groups would be welcome to contribute and express themselves.

"According to UN rules, of course there are rules of engagement, and everybody is guaranteed freedom of speech," Thiaw said.