Abu Dhabi,Aug. 19th, 2007 (WAM) -- In-line with the efforts of theCoordinating Committee for Conservation of Arabian Oryx to conserve and reintroduce the Arabian Oryx into its natural habitats, a three-dayworkshop will be organized in the capital from 20-22 August, 2007 to draft a Regional Strategy to Conserve Arabian Oryx.

Drawing up a strategy to coordinate all efforts to preserve thisanimal was recommended during the committee's third meeting which was held in May at Wadi Rum in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

The workshop, which will be attended by 25 participants from thecommittee's member countries and other relevant organisations, aims atdeveloping methodologies and mechanisms to conserve either by captivebreeding or by reintroduction programmes.

The workshop will follow a Collaborative Methodology through formingworking teams representing the participating countries that include theUnited Arab Emirates, Oman, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Bahrain, Qatar, Syria, Yemen and Jordon.

These working groups will discuss the current status of Arabian Oryxin its range states and determine challenges currently faced in the regionregarding the implementation of conservation projects to develop a clearpolicy and detail working plan to conserve Arabian oryx on the nationallevel of the participating countries and on the regional level in orderto unify efforts in this regard.

The workshop will be held at the Abu Dhabi Inter-Continental Hoteland aim at exchanging and sharing experience between participating countries where each country representative will present working paperhighlighting the country's experience in captive breeding and re-introducingprogrammes.

The paper will also share the challenges and obstacles in carryingout conservation programmes and the future plans and perspectives. Thesepapers will help to draw-up strategy that would be in line with each country'sneeds and at the same time unify efforts to achieve one goal by adoptingone policy and methodology.