Vol. 7 ˇ No. 1 ˇ 2003

Géraldine Chatelard

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As far as the socio-political implications of environmental conservation projects are concerned, the Middle East is very much a blind spot of research, probably because state-sponsored conservation attempts are relatively new in the region,the earliest ones dating back to the 1970s.In a 1998 article, Dawn Chatty wrote about the problematic involvement of pastoralist communities in conservation programmes in Oman and Syria. Her main conclusion was that: 'Conservation schemes in Arabia continue to disregard local populations as obstacles to be overcome - either by monetary compensation or by special terms of local employment - instead of as partners in sustainable conservation and development'.