Part of the World Heritage Site “Sanganeb Marine National Park and Dungonab Bay – Mukkawar Island Marine National Park” located along Sudan’s Red Sea coast and inscribed on UNESCO’s prestigious World Heritage List in 2016. This mission was conducted in collaboration with key stakeholders, including H.E. Mrs Sumia Oshiek, Minister in Charge of Investment, Tourism, and Environment in Red Sea State, and Mrs Leila Osman, Deputy Director of Public Relations and Organizations at the Federal Ministry of Culture, Information, and Tourism.
The mission involved local communities and stakeholders to assess their needs and the site’s conservation priorities. Key priorities included UNESCO sustainable development projects with a focus on community and women’s empowerment through ecotourism, local product marketing, enhancing educational support mainly through UNESCO-led technical and vocational trainings and skill building, site management and monitoring, improving access to clean water, and fostering sustainable development projects to benefit both biodiversity conservation efforts and community livelihood and wellbeing in this unique UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. The Sudanese stakeholders and community leaders expressed gratitude for UNESCO’s continued commitment and reiterated their support. The UNESCO Sudan Office is grateful to all Sudanese stakeholders and specifically the local communities for their resilience and remarkable efforts in preserving this unique World Heritage site for future generations.
Situated 125 kilometres north of Port Sudan, Dungonab Bay, including Mukkawar Island and other islands, is a biodiversity hotspot with various ecosystems containing an array of habitat types, such as extensive coral reef complexes, mangroves, seagrasses and intertidal and mudflat areas, which all enable the survival (breeding, feeding and resting) of endangered dugong, sharks, manta rays, dolphins and migratory birds. For more information about World Heritage and “Sanganeb Marine National Park and Dungonab Bay – Mukkawar Island Marine National Park”, please visit https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/262 and https://whc.unesco.org/
READ MORE: https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/unesco-assessment-mission-dungonab-bay-marine-world-heritage-site?hub=701
